Nearly five months after the fire that devastated the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, a Hong Kong resident returned to his damaged flat to recover a small number of personal items and mementoes of his dog.
On April 23, construction company owner Jason Kong entered the blackened apartment for the first time since the blaze, carrying a small torch. He had been prevented from re-entering the building on the night the fire began on November 26 and had to leave behind his 10-year-old poodle, Bear Bear.
The inferno swept through seven 31-storey tower blocks in the northern Tai Po district. It became the deadliest fire in the city in decades, claiming 168 lives and taking firefighters nearly two days to bring the flames under control.
Kong recalled that his dog was rescued the day after the fire began. Firefighters placed Bear Bear in an oxygen box, but the animal had inhaled a fatal amount of smoke and died later that night.
Accompanied by his son, Kong described the return as a painful exercise in loss. "My son was most affected when he saw the dog’s food and its food bowl," he said. "It really saddened him." Wearing a hard hat, Kong said he was able to salvage only about 10 percent of his possessions during the allowed visit.
"My son is heartbroken. He searched for stuff as a keepsake," Kong said, visibly emotional. In the limited three-hour window authorities granted them inside, he gathered a handful of items including his birth certificate, photographs and clothing.
Reflecting on the experience, Kong said his mood was dark as he tried to decide what to take and what to leave behind. "I needed to think about what to take, what not to take...I felt a connection to the whole apartment," he said.
This visit highlighted the difficult, personal aftermath faced by survivors as authorities manage access to structurally compromised residential blocks and relatives seek keepsakes amid losses that include family members and pets.