The last batch of residents who briefly returned to their flats in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court under a special government arrangement said prayers and left flower bouquets as a final farewell to their fire-ravaged homes. The residents, who were among 79 households that registered to visit Wang Sun House on Wednesday morning, arrived at…
For 66-year-old Ming Lee, the only way to get back to his flat in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court is by walking up 25 flights of stairs, after the deadly inferno at the housing estate last November destroyed seven of its eight buildings, including their lift systems. Undaunted by the physical toll required, the retiree…
A resident of Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po has said that a drawer in her flat had been rummaged through, prompting a police investigation and rekindling burglary fears in the sealed residential complex. Police launched the probe after a resident surnamed Lee raised concerns about a possible burglary early…
Hong Kong’s home affairs minister has pledged that a briefing set to be held ahead of an owners’ meeting petitioned for by residents of the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court will address their concerns, saying it will not clash with ongoing inquiry hearings or the schedule for their return home. More than 300 homeowners petitioned for…
The seventh session of the independent inquiry into last year’s fire at Wang Fuk Court – Hong Kong’s deadliest in decades – is under way with the focus turning to ISS EastPoint, the estate’s property management firm. The blaze, which started on November 26 last year and raged through seven of Wang Fuk Court’s eight…
Two people have been injured in an explosion at a recycling yard in northern Hong Kong, with online footage showing towering flames and billowing black smoke following the blast. Police said they received a report at 11.02am on Thursday that an explosion had been heard at a site, said to be a recycling yard, at…
A public evidential hearing by an independent committee into a fire that killed 168 people at a Hong Kong estate has entered its fourth day, with more residents set to testify. One resident who testified on Thursday said piles of rubbish were seen outside the building that first caught fire at Wang Fuk Court estate,…
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. An independent committee investigating a fire that killed 168 people at a Hong Kong housing estate is holding its third public hearing, with three residents expected to testify after a government lawyer gives an…
Two women climbed out of a window of a residential block in Hong Kong in an attempt to escape a fire that sent at least three people to hospital on Sunday, police said. Police said they received multiple reports at 5.28pm of a blaze at Yen Dack Building on Chun Yeung Street in North Point….
A firefighter killed in Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades may have entered the wrong building amid the initial chaos at the scene and fallen from a height, the first day of a public hearing into the inferno has heard. More details surrounding the death of 37-year-old Ho Wai-ho, among the first batch of firefighters…