Dead cadet's brother queries training drill
A cadet firefighter died when a training exercise in intense heat went tragically wrong, an inquest heard yesterday.
Allan Ng Lai-kwong, 34, lost his life during an exercise using breathing apparatus at the Pat Heung Fire Services Training School in Yuen Long on July 7, 1997.
Ng had only been in the force four months when his squad was put into a smoke-filled room to practise using the equipment. He died of a stroke caused by extreme heat.
His brother, Ng Lai-chung, asked yesterday why recruits not yet qualified to use the breathing equipment had been put in danger.
One of the recruits who survived the ordeal, Mok Siu-lun, said the room was 'very hot - I couldn't stand it'.
The squad had 20 recruits who were being sent into the smoke-filled simulator in pairs to collect a specified object, the inquest heard.
The cabin had four exits, including three doorways that were closed but not locked in case of emergency, the court heard.
The first three pairs were in the chamber together when Ng got into difficulties.
Mr Mok said he and his partner had tried to walk out through an exit, complaining of the intense heat, but returned when assistant instructor Ip Shun-yin ordered them back to find the target object.
The simulator reached temperatures of about 60 degrees Celsius, according to senior fire services officer Ng Yat-ming, the squad's instructor.
But Ng Lai-chung challenged the estimate, saying the temperatures in the enclosed chamber could have been higher on a day when the temperature outside was more than 31 degrees.
The hearing continues before Coroner Alison Thompson at Eastern Court.
