Tai Po Fire: 700+ residents seek shelter and missing loved ones after escaping inferno
發佈日期: 2025-11-26 23:43
TVB News
The Home Affairs Department has opened five temporary shelters for residents affected by the deadly Tai Po blaze.
More than 700 evacuees have sought shelter at the facilities. Authorities say additional shelters will be opened if the needs arise.
At the Kwong Fuk Community Hall shelter, many residents have taken refuge -- most are senior citizens.
Some tried to reach out to their family -- once they reached. Some evacuees -- emotionally overwhelmed by the situation.
Some residents who lost contact with their loved ones created handwritten signs -- and roamed the neighbourhood in hopes of finding them.
In desperation, she says she just hopes her loved ones are safe. This resident says her whole family is inside the burning building. She can't reach them -- fearing that they've already passed out.
The Fire Services Department says a senior firefighter has been assigned to lead search-and-rescue operations in each building, but admits the rescue effort has been extremely difficult.
CHAN DEREK ARMSTRONG, Deputy Director of Fire Services (Operations): "We encountered particular difficulties in several areas, like the fire is spreading quickly to nearby buildings. We received numerous assistance calls from the public and also debris and scaffolding of the affected buildings are falling down, so it poses additional danger to our frontline personnel. Besides, the temperature inside the buildings concerned are very high. So our rescue and firefighting operation is becoming more difficult in the hours of darkness."
The Church of Christ in China Fung Leung Kit Memorial Secondary School now being repurposed to house evacuees. As night fell, more residents took shelter here and collected food, water and essential supplies.
Mr. Chan here says there have been kind gestures from the community providing fresh fruit and water. But he says it's heartbreaking to see his home in ruins like that and they could just wait for authorities to arrange the next steps.
Some residents came to the scene hoping to locate their missing family members.
This man laments how chaotic the situation is and there's no way he could find his family member here so he has to rush to the hospital to double check now.
The Home Affairs Department says neighbouring Sha Tin's Home Affairs Office and its care teams are also offering cross-district assistance.
The Social Welfare Department says elderly residents who require care will be arranged placement in residential homes.
Wang Fuk Court has 1,829 flats with some 4,600 residents.
Chief Executive John Lee convened an interdepartmental meeting over the deadly fire in Tai Po.
The city leader says he was deeply saddened that the blaze caused multiple deaths and injuries, including the deceased firefighter on duty.
Having activated the Emergency Monitoring and Support Centre, the city leader was briefed by the Security Bureau and the Fire Services Department and steered the relevant departments to make every effort to carry out firefighting and rescue work.
