Cash flow trouble?

Hong Kong police search the scene for stray banknotes after cash worth almost two million U.S. dollars spewed from the faulty doors of a security van.

Their efforts appear in vain.

By Christmas Day only $460, 000 had been handed back by passers-by who picked it up.

Police said entire blocks of banknotes had gone.

(SOUNDBITE)(Cantonese) POLICE SUPERINTENDENT WAN SIU-HONG SAYING:

"The seal on two of the three plastic boxes was broken, probably when they fell to the ground. Fifteen-point-two-three million Hong Kong dollars was lost from the boxes. They were all 500 Hong Kong dollar banknotes, blocks and blocks of them."

Police are appealing to people who picked up the cash to hand it back.

G4S, the global security firm responsible for transporting the cash, has launched an inquiry, according to local media reports.