An 11-year-old girl, her three younger brothers and two social workers were held hostage in a Cheung Sha Wan flat by a man armed with two knives for more than an hour yesterday. The man lost his temper when the social workers visited him and his four children, the youngest just three, in their fifth-floor flat in Lily House, So Uk Estate, police said. Earlier, a man called a newspaper reporter saying he felt depressed after his wife left him and his children on Wednesday night, police said. She had come to Hong Kong from the mainland about a year ago. 'The man, who smelled strongly of alcohol, locked the four children and two social workers inside the unit while wielding two knives at about 12.30pm,' a police spokesman said. 'After an hour-long standoff, he dropped the knives and opened the door.' No one was injured but the man and the four children were taken to Caritas Medical Centre for a check-up. It is understood the man lost his shop in the economic downturn. Last night, a man was helping police with investigations. The children, reunited with their mother, were being looked after by the Social Welfare Department.
