As Hong Kong mourns the victims of the deadly Tai Po blaze and questions emerge on accountability, experts have called for much tighter supervision of building maintenance and fire safety by authorities to hold relevant parties responsible so that future tragedies can be averted. They gave this assessment as the government set up an interdepartmental…
Several more pets have been rescued from the burned buildings of a residential complex in Tai Po, as animal charities continued to search for separated owners and expressed concerns that animals still trapped will have gone days without food or water. Authorities said on Saturday that a sweep of two blocks where flames were first…
Pride mingled with grief as the family and loved ones of the Hong Kong firefighter who died while battling Wednesday’s disastrous high-rise inferno shared their feelings of tragic loss. The girlfriend of the deceased firefighter, Ho Wai-ho, posted a heartfelt message on social media on Thursday, revealing her grief and longing for her boyfriend. “I…
As full-scale rescue work continued after Wednesday’s deadly fire engulfed a Tai Po estate in Hong Kong, attention fell on the fate of a missing baby, with a desperate grandfather looking for help in one area and a distraught mother crying outside a shelter. Winnie Hui had broken down upon hearing her baby had died…
Hong Kong labour authorities had warned the contractor working on Wang Fuk Court’s renovation about a fire hazard just a week before the housing estate in Tai Po was engulfed in the city’s worst blaze in decades, the Post has learned. In the aftermath of the devastating blaze that has so far claimed 83 lives,…
The failure of fire alarms in the deadly Tai Po blaze could have delayed the response and evacuation of residents, according to a leading Hong Kong fire safety specialist. Anthony Lam Chun-man, a former director of the Fire Services Department, also said the extreme heat and intense flames both inside and outside made it almost…
Excessive heat and raging flames that engulfed a Tai Po estate in one of Hong Kong’s deadliest fires posed the biggest challenges for firefighters, experts have said, as they dismissed suggestions that height limitations of aerial ladders added to the blaze’s severity. They were responding to widespread online speculation that the severity of the highest…
The investigation into a deadly fire at a Hong Kong housing estate has centred on the use of flammable material in the scaffolding that covered the residential blocks, officials said on Thursday. Police arrested three men from the maintenance firm responsible for the buildings on suspicion of manslaughter, while the city’s anti-graft agency said it…
The death toll in Hong Kong’s worst fire in seven decades climbed to 83 on Thursday as many remained missing and a grief-stricken city rallied as one with authorities, private companies, charities and ordinary folks donating hundreds of millions to the victims and their families. The towering inferno that tore through seven blocks at a…
A woman and her five-year-old son were hospitalised in intensive care on Tuesday after strong waves swept them into the sea at a Hong Kong waterfront during the No 8 signal for Super Typhoon Ragasa. The family of four, including the 40-year-old father and nine-year-old daughter, had gone to the breakwater at Ka Yip Street…