Hong Kong police have arrested three construction workers on suspicion of theft at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court, seizing HK$90,000 (US$11,510) worth of gold jewellery, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source confirmed that police arrested three workers responsible for structural reinforcement work at the estate, destroyed in a blaze last year, for…
Hong Kong authorities have said that residents of fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court will be allowed to return to their flats to collect personal belongings by late April – nearly five months after the city’s deadliest inferno in decades killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 at the Tai Po estate. The announcement came a day…
Some residents of Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court have urged an independent committee investigating Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades to identify and hold those responsible to account, as the judge leading the inquiry vows a fair and thorough probe. The committee’s first hearing began at 10am on Thursday with a minute of silence to…
One month after the deadly Tai Po fire, survivors are slowly rebuilding their lives. In the second part of a series on how the community is moving on, Fiona Chow tells the story of one mother’s journey to find stability and hope for her young family amid loss and change. Read the first part here….
A Hong Kong district officer has apologised for the clothing she wore at the funeral of the firefighter Ho Wai-ho, who died battling the Tai Po blaze, after her choice of attire drew criticism from many online. In a social media post, the Home Affairs Department said that following Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades…
Hongkongers gathered on Friday to pay their last respects to the firefighter who died battling the Tai Po blaze, as his hearse passed the fire site and the fire station he had served in en route to the cemetery in Gallant Garden, in a funeral procession with full honours. The Fire Services Department held an…
Steel bars have been brought in to reinforce the structure of one of the fire-ravaged blocks in Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong, while investigations into the catastrophic blaze are expected to go on for two to three weeks. The Post observed on Monday afternoon a crane lifting bundles of steel bars above…
Around a dozen families who lost their loved ones in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire have given their DNA samples to authorities, hoping to help identify victims still missing more than a week after the deadly blaze. Residents from Wang Fuk Court who visited the Kwong Fuk Community Hall near the estate on Monday morning…
An Indonesian domestic helper has recalled how she and her employer’s elderly parents huddled together in a smoke-filled bedroom for an agonising three hours, covering their noses with wet towels as they lay trapped while a deadly inferno engulfed a Hong Kong estate last month. The helper, who gave her name as Olive, recalled to…
The fire that tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po and killed at least 159 may have started on scaffolding between the first and second floors of one of the blocks, according to preliminary investigations by Hong Kong fire services. The city’s fire services director also said a life-size replica of…