An abode claimant wearing a camouflage hat was the first to catch fire in last year's fatal Immigration Tower blaze, but he stood still while others - some also on fire - dashed out of the smoke-filled room, a court heard yesterday.
Immigration assistant Chu Chi-shing video-taped his colleagues extinguishing flames on people who managed to escape from Room 1301 on August 2 last year.
What Mr Chu did not record, but described to a jury yesterday, were scenes of some claimants opening bottles they were carrying and smelling - not drinking - the contents before putting the caps back on.
Prosecutors have said the bottles contained thinner which was splashed moments before the 20-square-metre office was engulfed in fire shortly before 6pm.
Sze Kwan-lung, 24, Pang Hon-kwan, 40, Fu Mo, 38, Lam Hing-luen, 27, brothers Yeung Yee-ping, 29, and Yeung Yee-yim, 38, and Chau Hung-chuen, 30, have pleaded not guilty to two counts of murder and one of arson.
They are accused of murdering migrant Lam Siu-sing, 26, and senior immigration officer Leung Kam-kwong, 42, who both died of burn injuries in hospital on August 11 last year.
Mr Chu's video, played in the Court of First Instance, recorded a conversation between Sze, the alleged ringleader, and Leung just before the blaze.
