A couple who survived the deadly Tai Po blaze last year have been barred from leaving Hong Kong pending trial for allegedly obtaining more than HK$330,000 (US$42,000) in government-guaranteed loans by overstating the decline in revenue of their decoration business. Former Wang Fuk Court residents Jason Kong Cheung-fat, 65, and Rosanna Cheung Yeuk-lan, 62, appeared…
Nearly 600 pupils and their teachers at a Hong Kong primary school closed after the deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze will be reunited at a newly renovated campus in Tai Po, ending months spent across two temporary sites. Tai Po Baptist Public School, formerly located near Wang Fuk Court, opened its new premises at Fu…
Three people have been injured and four cats have died after a power bank caught fire in a public housing flat in Hong Kong, forcing nearly 80 residents to evacuate. Police said they received a report at 2.51am on Thursday from a resident that the power bank inside her flat at So Uk Estate in…
About 60 people were evacuated and a 98-year-old woman was taken to hospital after a fire broke out in a flat in Hong Kong on Tuesday. Police said they received multiple reports of the blaze at 488 Hennessy Road in Causeway Bay at 10.59am and that the fire was extinguished by 11.27am. The 58 people…
About eight per cent of homeowners at the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong have yet to accept the government’s buy-back offer, which is set to expire at the end of this month. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said on Sunday that 91.9 per cent of owners had submitted acceptance letters, while 65.7 per…
A fire has broken out at a flat in a Hong Kong housing estate, resulting in at least 12 people feeling unwell from the effects of smoke and residents fleeing to the rooftop for safety. The blaze erupted at Begonia Mansion in Taikoo Shing’s Harbour View Gardens on Sunday afternoon, with smoke pouring from a…
Changing the smoking culture on the city’s construction sites will “take time”, Hong Kong’s labour commissioner has said as authorities completed 1,200 site inspections and issued 36 fixed-penalty notices in the first two weeks of a smoking ban at such locations. Commissioner for Labour Sam Hui Chark-shum said on Saturday that Labour Department officials also…
The administrator of the fire-hit Hong Kong estate is still settling contracts and gradually issuing refunds to owners after organising tens of thousands of documents, the city’s home affairs minister has said in response to residents’ concerns. Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak Mei-kuen said on Saturday that Hop On Management Company, the…
A Hong Kong woman has been arrested for allegedly stealing electricity after a fire broke out in her Mong Kok flat, killing three cats and two dogs. Investigators said on Friday that the 56-year-old, surnamed Chan, had left her Tung Choi Street flat at about 6pm the previous day with the air conditioner switched on….
The legal team for an independent committee examining the cause of Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire has recommended that authorities gradually phase out bamboo scaffolding in favour of metal replacements, among other proposals ranging from legislative reform to measures to curb bid-rigging. The suggestions were outlined in 627 pages of closing submissions from the…