As the deadline approaches for homeowners to accept the Hong Kong government’s deal to buy back their flats at fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court, some who refuse to sell have said the offer cannot make up for the loss of their property and communal bonds. With the clock ticking to the August 31 cut-off date, the…
Two victims of the Wang Fuk Court inferno dug through the ashes of their homes, only to each discover about HK$100,000 (US$12,800) in charred banknotes, just two of many such finds as residents returned to the fire-damaged Hong Kong estate on Thursday. On the same day, several local storage companies offered free services to affected…
A Hong Kong primary school opposite the scene of the deadly Tai Po fire is expected to take over another campus by the end of June, its principal has said, with pupils set to begin classes for the coming academic year at the new premises. Parents of pupils at Tai Po Baptist Public School told…
Tai Po residents are forging ahead with new paths forward following a catastrophic blaze that claimed the lives of 161 people. In this series, the Post looks into how the community is moving on and rebuilding their lives. A heavy quiet has settled over the neighbourhood in Hong Kong’s Tai Po where seven towers stand…
Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has been put out, but the sight of the charred remains of Wang Fuk Court’s housing blocks still conjures up painful emotions and all too vivid memories for many people in the surrounding neighbourhood. The fire started on Wednesday last week, raging for 43 hours and engulfing seven of…
Residents and mourners have demanded that the Hong Kong government ramp up its investigations to hold responsible parties accountable, as they gathered to mark the seventh day after the start of the city’s worst fire in seven decades. Hundreds of people assembled at the Kwong Fuk sit-out area on Tuesday, laying flowers, writing messages of…
A Filipino domestic worker who fled Hong Kong’s deadly inferno with her employers’ three-year-old daughter in her arms has expressed regret that she was unable to persuade a neighbour who perished in the blaze to also try to escape. Reinalyn Niere, who arrived in the city last year, said she was asleep with the child…
As Hong Kong reels from its deadliest fire in decades, a highly visible community of foreigners is also in mourning as it awaits the fate of at least 80 of its own who remain missing. They are the domestic helpers who remain unaccounted for five days after the blaze, among more than 200 working in…
Beneath the podium at Kwong Fuk Estate in Tai Po, between rows of relief booths and supply tables stacked with bottled water and meal boxes, a group of children took a break from their volunteering duties. But they did not rest for long. As soon as they finished eating, they darted through the crowds to…
Residents displaced by Hong Kong’s worst fire in seven decades have been left exhausted and anxious, fearing another sleepless night and uncertain about where they can shelter. A 76-year-old retiree, Chow, who lives in the Kwong Fuk public housing estate in Tai Po, spent all of Thursday sitting in the open area near Wang Fuk…