After Hong Kong's deadly fire, some residents returned to pick up personal items

3/12/2025 16:46

Some Hong Kong residents forced to flee their homes as a deadly fire closed in a week ago returned to the scorched complex Wednesday to retrieve belongings, as others struggled to rebuild lives after a disaster that killed at least 156 people.



Carrying large suitcases and empty bags, residents of the only block in the complex not destroyed by the 40-hour inferno were escorted to their homes by government staff and given a 90-minute window to pack up belongings.



Seven other blocks were engulfed by the fire. All residents of the Wang Fuk Court complex, numbering over 4,000, were displaced by the city's worst blaze in decades and many are being put up in temporary housing.



Authorities have not said when residents of the unaffected building can return as they collect evidence in a criminal probe.



Police continue to scour the seven burnt-out buildings.



The search may take weeks due to the hazardous conditions and difficulty in collecting bodies, some of which have been found on rooftops and stairwells and others reduced to nothing more than ashes, authorities said.



Some 30 people are still missing.



Fifteen people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter in the police's probe into the cause of the fire.



Hong Kong's anti-corruption body has also launched an investigation, and the city's leader on Tuesday promised an independent judge-led examination of the tragedy.