People

Thousands gathered at the nearby Kwong Fuk Sitting-out Area in Tai Po on Monday to lay flowers in remembrance of the fire victims.  Bouquets, condolence cards and soft toys filled the lawn as citizens paid their respects to the victims of the deadly fire.  Mourners penned blessings and messages on memos, which were posted at a pavilion near Wang Fuk Court.  A similar display of memo wall appeared along a pedestrian tunnel leading to Kwong Fuk Sitting-out Area, but was later voluntarily removed after police cautioned against the practice.

Three years after Chan Sau-mei moved into her flat, the concrete wall started flaking off. Now, 20 years later, the entire building is full of exposed rebars, dust and concrete splatters. “It’s like a sandy beach at home everyday. It is an endless nightmare cleaning up all the mess at my house,” Chan, 52, said, adding that there is a new renovation project nearly every eight months. Chan lives in the Model Housing Estate, Hong Kong’s oldest existing public housing estate, sandwiched between Quarry Bay and North Point on Hong Kong Island. Five of the estate’s six blocks were built in 1954, with one, a redevelopment of the original, built in 1979. Chan’s block is one of the originals built with five to six stories and no lift. Announced in the 2025 Policy Address in September, Lee announced that redevelopment plans for some of Hong Kong's oldest estates will be announced. The Housing Authority is conducting a study on the redevelopment of Model Housing Estate, and will announce its preliminary findings in 2026-27, while redeveloping plans for Ma Tau Wai Estate and Sai Wan Estate by the end of this year. Chan said she is happy to finally hear about redevelopment plans. “I love living here. We have a very close relationship with our neighbours, and doing groceries and commuting around the estate is also convenient. I think this place is a golden location, but the only flaw is it’s old and is worn to a skeleton,” Chan said. With no lift in the five older blocks, Chan said she is lucky to live on the ground floor, as it is very inconvenient to climb five or six storeys every day to their unit, especially for older residents. Even if there are lifts, they sometimes cause inconvenience, said Huang Yang-hong, …

The death toll had risen to 146 from the devastating blaze in Tai Po, police said in a media briefing today. There were 23 bodies initially found at the building that had not yet been removed, said Tsang Shuk-yin, officer in charge from the force’s Casualty Enquiry Unit. The number of injured remains at 79, while 159 residents have been confirmed safe. Tsang said 92 of the deceased and 37 of the injured matched entries on the missing-person list. The police’s Disaster Victim Identification Unit launched operations in Wang Shing House, Wang Kin House and Wang Tai House today and found 18 bodies in stairwells, rooftops and other locations in the three blocks. However, 100 missing-person cases could not be traced, and officers are still attempting to follow up on more than 40 additional reports of people listed as missing. “In some cases, the informants only provided very limited or insufficient information. Some missing persons are confirmed not Wang Fuk Court’s residents, while some informants cannot tell whether missing persons are still residents, as they have not been liaising for a long time,” Tsang said. The overall structural integrity of all Wang Fuk Court’s buildings poses no immediate danger, said Leung Hung-wai, deputy director of the Housing Department. Leung said the second phase of inspection will be launched to extract concrete core samples to evaluate the building structure, once the preliminary inspection on Wang Sun House and Wang Cheong House is completed.

Residents from Kwong Fuk Estate, which is beside the burning Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, have been allowed to pick up belongings from their flats since today morning, although they still have to stay out of their homes tonight. Shek, a resident in Kwong Yau House who did not want to reveal his first name, said he only had at most 15 minutes to stay in his flat. “If you did not leave within 15 minutes, you would be called (by the authorities),” he said. He added that he will stay at the nearby Kwong Fuk Commercial Centre tonight, where bed mattresses are provided. Many volunteers set up supply stations and provide resources, including food, drinks and clothes, to the affected residents. After the level five fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court yesterday, the authorities evacuated many residents in Kwong Fuk Estate. Until 8 pm today, the ongoing fire has killed at least 65 people, according to the Fire Services Department.