Special day brings tears for family
Yesterday should have been a day of joy and family celebration; instead, June 21 will forever be stained with tears for the Tse family.
Beloved daughter and promising student Tse Yan-yee (pictured), who died in last week's fire in Ma Tau Wai, Kowloon City district, would have turned 19 yesterday, but all her family has left are memories.
A Facebook page specially set up in her memory simply says: 'Happy Birthday. We miss you.'
Tse was one of four who died in a tenement filled with subdivided cubicles. She is said to have used her arms to shield her four-year-old sister as they fled the burning building.
Her father, Tse Chor-suen, 44, who is in a stable condition in the Prince of Wales Hospital, shared his sorrow yesterday for the first time. Making him feel worse is the fact that he has to watch his youngest daughter in pain every day.
In a note handed to the South China Morning Post, he wrote: 'Today is Yan-yee's 19th birthday. Little sister feels much pain when she receives treatment every day. As her wounds need to be washed, little sister has not drawn me any pictures. Thanks for all the care.'
Tse, whose daughter is in the same hospital, was able to walk on his own yesterday. He wore a mask and looked calm. He suffered burns to his ears and face, but they were not bandaged.
More than 2,000 people joined Tse's family to express their condolences on a Facebook page called 'RIP a girl with no blemish. Tse Yan-yee.' Her family said on the page: 'Yan-yee in heaven - daddy, mummy and sister want to say: Happy Birthday. We miss you.'
Yan-yee's cousin, who set up the page, recalled childhood memories. She said she was confident that Yan-yee, who was in Form Seven in Kowloon True Light Middle School, would have been admitted to university in September. 'She could definitely do it, I had confidence in her. But my confidence could not override her fate.'
Lai Hok-man, another survivor who lost his pregnant wife and two small sons in the fire, is in Queen Elizabeth Hospital.
