The hall of Lo Wu Station is heavily congested as the station implements crowd control measures around noon on March 29, 2024. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Hong Kong saw overcrowding at major immigration checkpoints, train and high-speed railway stations on Friday, as thousands of residents headed north at the start of the four-day Easter holiday.

According to the Immigration Department, by 10 am on Friday, passenger traffic in and out of Hong Kong had exceeded 280,000 trips. Out of these, nearly 240,000 were outbound trips, while approximately 42,000 were inbound ones. Lo Wu and Lok Ma Chau Spur Line Control Point — the city’s two checkpoints connected by its MTR — saw the largest number of outbound passengers, with 50,000 and 42,000 recorded respectively.

Around 30,000 travelers departed from Hong Kong via the airport and the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge (HZMB).

As early as 9 am, the train carriages at Sheung Shui station, the station near the two checkpoints, were already packed with passengers. Lo Wu Station implemented crowd control measures at one point, as the hall was heavily congested. 

Crowds at the HZMB were also overwhelming with a considerable number of travelers being stranded at the control point. In the hall, officials kept reminding travelers to remain patient.

Earlier, the Immigration Department estimated that over 11 million passenger trips would be made to and from the city during Easter and Qingming, as the two holidays are only two days apart this year

Li Yifan, who works in the media sector, was stranded at Lo Wu customs on Friday. Li, who lives in Hong Kong, went to Shenzhen to take a high-speed train to Jiangsu province. He told China Daily that he missed his train after spending over an hour trying to cross the border, with the flow restrictions in place at the Lo Wu checkpoint. 

“This is the first time I have ever encountered such a situation,” Li said, “It is such a frustrating trip.”

Finance practitioner Xu Fei, who planned to travel with her entire family from Hong Kong to Shenzhen for leisure, decided to cross the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line checkpoint around noon to avoid the morning rush. 

However, they also encountered a crowd-related delay, being stranded for a long time around the checkpoint. “The entire process was extremely crowded,” Xu said.

A large number of outbound passengers is seen at the Lok Ma Chau checkpoint around noon on March 29, 2024. (PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Back in Hong Kong, Ocean Park also said it had to exercise crowd control for its Water World, after an influx of visitors. 

Earlier, the Immigration Department estimated that over 11 million passenger trips would be made to and from the city during Easter and Qingming, as the two holidays are only two days apart this year. This estimate surpasses the 7.5 million passenger trips recorded during the previous Lunar New Year period.

On Thursday, a day before the Easter Holiday kicked off, the city recorded about 1 million inbound and outbound travelers. Among them, 640,000 left the city, with 520,000 of them are Hong Kong residents. Lo Wu checkpoint alone on Thursday recorded 130,000 outbound passengers.