A Hong Kong resident was killed and four others were injured after a fire broke out late on Thursday in an old building under renovation in Jordan, prompting the evacuation of about 300 people.
Police said on Friday that they received a report at 10.49pm the previous day of a fire at a subdivided flat in the 62-year-old Man Yuen Building on Man Wai Street.
The Fire Services Department deployed 20 fire engines, 10 ambulances and 106 personnel, and extinguished the blaze at 11.53pm.
The department said the affected subdivided flat measured about six by eight metres (19.7 by 26.2 feet) and had been divided into nine living spaces, with the fire starting in the rearmost area.
Police said there was no evidence of any criminal element, adding that the cause of the fire remained under investigation.
A 69-year-old man surnamed Chu died in the subdivided flat on the 13th floor. Four other residents, aged between 43 and 78, were taken to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei after inhaling thick smoke.
The department said the building’s fire alarm system was working at the time of the incident and that it had passed its annual inspection.
While the building was covered in mesh netting from the unfinished renovation work, it was not immediately clear whether the material was affected by the fire.
The victim’s partner tearfully recalled being unable to help him as she showed firefighters how to get to the flat.
“I couldn’t save him because I was too weak and had been burned. Can you imagine how heartbroken I am? We’d been together for 30 years,” she said.
“I endured the thick smoke for 10 minutes – the smoke that poured out when I opened the door – but even after that, I couldn’t pull him out [of the flat].”
Contractors were required to take down scaffolding mesh at buildings under renovation days after the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po last November.
Substandard, non-fire-retardant protective nets were believed to have accelerated the spread of the blaze, which killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 others.
“The alarm didn’t ring initially. It wasn’t until I left the building and waited for a while that it started ringing,” a resident, surnamed Lai, said. “I think we live above the flat that caught fire, because thick smoke rushed into my flat once we opened the window.”
Another resident, surnamed Lee, said he and his family fled their home after discovering the smell of something burning and then hearing the alarm.
“The mesh was newly replaced, in maybe March or April. The building renovation was halted in December, but it’s still ongoing,” he said. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
