Inside the cluttered, silent flat at Wang Fuk Court, time seems to stand still. On the bathroom door, a calendar remains frozen on the page of November 2025 – the month a deadly fire broke out at the Tai Po estate in Hong Kong.
On what was believed to be their final visit to the undamaged flat, resident Joe* and his wife Annie* took photos of every room. Each room reeked of a mixture of sweat and mould. Ants crawled across dusty kitchen walls.
A foul stench wafted out the moment the freezer was cracked open. Outside the window, vacant charred towers stood eerily under the sun amid the debris.
Before making his final trip down the stairs with the last of his belongings, Joe pressed the lift button in the lobby of the floor a few times, although it no longer worked.
“There will never be another chance of pressing this button again,” he said, in a T-shirt soaked with sweat, casting one last glance at his home for more than 40 years.
“Farewell, Wang Fuk Court.”
