Firefighters deployed five helicopters to help put out a hill fire in Sai Kung Country Park that is believed to have been started by an illumination flare fired by police during an operation against illegal immigrants before dawn yesterday.
The blaze started near a hilltop in Nam She Tsim at about 4.30am, when more than 40 officers and 11 tracking dogs raided a makeshift shelter used by mainland illegal immigrants on a hillside in Nam She Wan.
Five men escaped from the shelter and ran off. Officers gave chase, said Superintendent Jackie Ling Wai-po of the Small Boat Unit, and fired several rounds of flares.
'To help colleagues on land, officers on two police craft at a nearby beach fired five rounds of flares to light up the area,' he said.
'But one of the flares was blown away by strong winds and it [seemingly] caused a small fire near a hilltop. We immediately alerted the Fire Services Department.'
After a brief chase, four mainland men aged between 18 and 26 were arrested, but a fifth man managed to escape.