‘Darkest corner’: firefighters haunted by Hong Kong blaze but vow to keep serving

Firefighters have described the gruelling conditions they faced in their search for survivors of Hong Kong’s worst fire in more than seven decades, with rescuers climbing dozens of flights of stairs as they conserved oxygen to look for anyone alive on the higher floors.

For some firefighters, the operation has left them with feelings of guilt and helplessness after they only found bodies. One said encountering the scattered corpses had given him nightmares that left him unable to sleep normally for days, but he remained committed to his job.

The firefighters have been posting their accounts on the social media platform Threads over the past week, recounting the extreme challenges inside the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po that caught fire on November 26.

At least 159 people died in the blaze, including a firefighter. Seven of the eight 31-storey towers were destroyed.

“Even though on the internet, many firefighters describe rescuing many survivors, I am in the darkest corner [mentally]. That’s because all I rescued were bodies,” one user who identified himself as “TTT” wrote.

Another firefighter wrote that he and his teammates had to walk up to flats on the 20th floor and above to look for survivors, and he would ration the amount of oxygen available in the tank he carried to maximise the search time.