Taiwanese mortuary reconstruction specialist Kuo Chang-chen wasted no time starting work to restore the bodies of Wang Fuk Court’s fire victims upon arriving in Hong Kong on Thursday.
Kuo, 62, is leading a team of five other specialists from Taiwan who volunteered to assist in reconstructing the remains of the victims at the Kowloon Funeral Parlour.
Their work aims to prepare the bodies for dignified funerals and offer closure to grieving families.
“Every unexpected event deeply wounds the family,” he told the Post. “It is important to reconstruct the appearance of the deceased so their loved ones can bid a final goodbye.”
Kuo and his team came to help after the deadliest fire in decades in Hong Kong ravaged seven of eight high-rise buildings at Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po last month, killing at least 160 people.
This is Kuo’s first time working on reconstructing bodies of victims of a major tragedy in Hong Kong.
He has about 15 years of experience in reconstructing the bodies of the deceased, including victims of fires, air crashes and car accidents in Taiwan.
Kuo said he had assessed the condition of the victims’ bodies at the parlour and was confident that his team could help, even in the most severe of cases where only charred remains were left.
He explained that the bodies required reconstruction of missing, damaged or decayed parts and limbs, as well as their faces and skin, using silicone.
Detailed facial features such as eyebrows and eyelashes would also be restored, while specialists would apply make-up and style the victims’ hair to match their original appearances as far as possible, he added.
Kuo said the restoration work for each body would take two to three days.
“This is the last time their families will see them. We must attend to the details so that their families can find solace in their grief,” he said.
In the aftermath of the blaze that broke out at the estate on November 26, the Kowloon Funeral Parlour established a team to offer funeral arrangements for the fire victims.
Bryan Kam Leung-tak, the parlour’s general manager, said the funeral home was currently providing services for about 10 victims.
All services, including document processing, body claims, restoration and funeral arrangements, were provided free of charge to them thanks to financial support from charities, he said.
Kam said that the parlour invited Kuo and his team for their expertise in body restoration, as Hong Kong currently lacked relevant experience and specialists in this field.
“There is no concept of body restoration in Hong Kong and because of that, no one knows how to do it,” he said.
“Hong Kong has not experienced many large-scale disasters, so there is little relevant experience to draw from.”
Other experts from Malaysia and mainland China had also reached out to offer help, he added.
Kam said the parlour’s own team handled preliminary embalming before the specialists from Taiwan took over to reconstruct the bodies.
He said the parlour also established a team to offer legal help to those who could not confirm if their loved ones were killed in the fire, as verifying the identity of the deceased was a prerequisite for completing funeral arrangements.
“We are trying to give their families a chance to say goodbye, and we will do as much as we can,” he said.
Hong Kong embalmer Nick Cheng Man-hon, 31, began working to preserve victims’ bodies at the parlour last week. Despite having been in the profession since 2018, he said this was his first time handling victims of a major disaster.
In addition to his work, Cheng said he would learn from the specialists and gain experience.
Another charity from Taiwan also said it had sent several experienced mortuary reconstruction specialists to Hong Kong to help.
In a reply to the Post, the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department said it had set up a service counter at Fu Shan Public Mortuary and assigned dedicated staff to help families of fire victims with funeral arrangements.
The support covers body claims, cremation and burial services, as well as applications for niche allocations and green burials.
The department said it would allow families to arrange cremations and post-funeral matters promptly at their preferred time and location, adding it was maintaining close contact with funeral businesses to support the families.
For families opting for burial, the exhumation period was extended from six to 12 years, giving them more time to recover before making long-term arrangements, the department said.
It added that the government would also waive fees for cremation and burial services and niches at public columbariums for them. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
