Deadly Hong Kong fire leaves residents distraught as they mourn loss, search for missing
Blaze in Tai Po claiming at least 83 lives has become a haunting memory for many, while the full-scale rescue operation carries on
As full-scale rescue work continued after Wednesday’s deadly fire engulfed a Tai Po estate in Hong Kong, attention fell on the fate of a missing baby, with a desperate grandfather looking for help in one area and a distraught mother crying outside a shelter.
Winnie Hui had broken down upon hearing her baby had died in the fire at Wang Fuk Court. “My baby is dead. I am the mum who keeps posting non-stop on social media trying to find my baby,” she said. “I don’t know what to do. My baby was born after so much hardship.
“I cannot find my father-in-law or mother-in-law either. The firefighters said they found a baby and an adult in the flat with no signs of life.”
Hui had earlier told the Post that her last phone call with her 68-year-old mother-in-law, Li Kin-yuk, was at 3.02pm on Wednesday, while the grandmother was caring for Hui’s six-month-old baby girl Ho Tsz-yan, at her flat in Wang Cheong House.
Li told Hui there was smoke outside and she would move to another flat on the same floor, but contact was lost soon after. Hui’s father-in-law, 75, was also missing.
An elderly man pleaded for help to find his six-month-old granddaughter, who lived on the 21st floor of Wang Cheong House, while the baby’s grandmother was also missing.
“I’ve checked all the hospitals – no sign of them,” he said. “Police told me to register their details and I did. I just wish there was more I could do. Maybe they’re safe somewhere.”