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Clifford Lo

Residents of Mong Kok building praise courage of firefighters
Firefighters Siu Wing-fong  and Chan Siu-lung  may have died of smoke inhalation in the Mong Kok inferno after they shared their oxygen tanks with two rescued women.
The two firemen, who had been sent to rescue trapped residents, were found with the two women on the roof of the 15-storey Cornwall Court in Nathan Road at around 11am, about 11/2 hours after the alarm No5 fire broke out.
'The two firemen were unconscious and their oxygen masks had been taken off. But the two women were still conscious,' a government source said, adding that  investigations showed that the two  cylinders belonging to Siu and Chan had run out of oxygen.
On average, an oxygen cylinder can support a fireman for 30 minutes and an alarm sounds 10 minutes before it runs out.
'Preliminary investigations showed that the two women shared the use of the breathing apparatus while they were being carried to the roof of the building,' the source said.
The four were taken  to the roof of an adjacent block before being sent to hospital. Siu and Chan were declared dead in hospital. The Fire Services Department said they were still investigating the circumstances of the officers' deaths.
'We have to check with the two women who are still in hospital,' a spokesman said.
A Mrs Chan, who lives in a 10th-floor  flat with her husband and five-year-old daughter,  recalled how they were rescued by firemen who passed their oxygen mask to her and her daughter. She said the firemen took them  to the 11th floor, from where they were later taken down by ladder to safety.
'While  we were walking up the stairs, the fireman kept asking me if I was okay. But I could sense that he was suffering hard as he had no oxygen supply and he was carrying the oxygen tank for me,' she said, with tears  in her eyes.
'If it was not for the firemen, we would have died. They ignored their own safety and passed us their oxygen masks. We are very thankful to the firemen, the lives of our family were all saved by them.'
Survivor Carsin Lai also expressed heartfelt thanks after recalling how she escaped  with the help of firemen. She said she and other residents were directed by two firemen to assemble in a  flat, where they learned about the death of the two officers.
'I simply broke into tears,' she said. 'The two firemen looked very sad. But they did not shed a tear.'
Instead, she said, the firemen - whose oxygen cylinders had already beeped to warn that their supply was running low - went out to make sure nobody was trapped  before returning to the flat to accompany them.
Yuen Fong-him,  president of the Fire Services Department Staffs General Association,  said saving people was always their priority, which was why  firefighters  shared their oxygen cylinders and masks.
Mr Yuen  said the department promised to provide counselling to colleagues.
The union would also open a bank account for colleagues to contribute to help the families.
Former director of fire services Anthony Lam Chun-man  said people should know  the emergency escape routes from their homes.
One of Chan's classmates at the training academy described the dead fireman as the best in their class of 17.  'He kept encouraging us to strive until the end,' said the firefighter.  'He always said:  17 of us coming in, the same number going out [of the academy].'
High-rise horror
How the events of the Cornwall Court fire unfolded
1 After receiving call about fire at 9.20am, firefighters rush to scene on Nathan Rd - one group enters main entrance and others assemble on roof of building next door
2 Some firefighters battle blaze in nightclub while others continue upstairs to rescue stranded residents
3 As residents are found in flats, firefighters assemble them in flats facing Nathan Rd from where they are evacuated
4 Officers find woman with burns covering 30 per cent of her body lying in ninthfloor stairwell
5 At 12.15pm, two firefighters found unconscious on 12th floor. They are evacuated to rooftop
6 Fire extinguished at 3.16pm
7 Body of woman later found in nightclub



'If it was not for the firemen,  we would have died'