Hong Kong fire victims scour scorched homes for keepsakes

HONG KONG, April 20 - Victims of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades began government-supervised visits to their ravaged former homes on Monday for the first time since the November blaze, looking to retrieve personal items that might have survived.

The flames that engulfed seven residential towers, each of 31 floors in the northern district of Tai Po, killing 168 people, took nearly two days to douse, and eclipsed London’s Grenfell Tower inferno of 2017.

"I have taken away most of the stuff I wanted, those items of value," said Steven Chung, 50, adding that he did not know how to describe his emotions after sifting through his old apartment but now worries more about finding affordable housing.

Chung was among around 270 former residents returning to the complex on Monday, many carrying objects such as paintings, computers, and bicycles as they left the government-subsidised housing.

A former resident surnamed Leung said he was able to find his wedding ring easily as it glittered through the ashes of his room where he had kept it. "True gold fears no fire," he said.

Photos of his scorched apartment he shared with Reuters showed charcoal-grey debris with only a few household objects including a plate intact. Walls and window grates were completely charred.

A 67-year-old woman surnamed Tsang said she was happy she found her burnt jewelry box under her bed.

“I found the jewel box under the bed among the ashes. That’s the only thing I can retrieve," she said.

Until May 4, former residents of the complex, Wang Fuk Court, can spend three hours in their flats on each visit, while wearing facemasks, helmets and gloves for protection.

Firemen are among the 1,000 staff tasked to assist the estimated total of 6,000 visitors, who will be escorted by officials to ensure items are kept safe.

"I hope everyone will abide by the three-hour rule," Warner Cheuk, Hong Kong's deputy chief secretary, told reporters outside the complex, patrolled by officers and cordoned off with orange tape and crowd-control barriers.

Up to four people can register to enter each home, but for severely damaged flats the number is limited to one.

Many affected residents are elderly, with more than a third older than 65, Midland Realty's analysis of government data showed.

Months after the fire, people in the Asian financial hub are still grasping for answers to how it started and demanding accountability.

An independent committee began hearings in March to decide the causes and the scale of bid-rigging by construction firms in building projects.

The panel's lead lawyer blamed human factors for the failure of most of the fire safety systems.

Authorities have threatened severe punishment for anyone who tries to "politicise" the disaster.

In April, the Housing Bureau ruled out redevelopment of the site, on grounds of the long time required and surrounding uncertainties. In February the government said it aimed to spend about HK$4 billion ($512 million) to buy out the owners. REUTERS