After a Kowloon tenement fire left 59 dead, neighbours said they would never forget the cries of those trying to escape
- The deceased included those who made desperate jumps into the street to escape the inferno
- Authorities did not determine what started the blaze that also left hundreds homeless
“Thirty-one Perish, Fire Disaster in Kowloon,” ran a South China Morning Post headline on February 14, 1957. The blaze, which broke out at about 5am the previous day and was under control within an hour, destroyed four four-storey tenement buildings on Canton Road, making it “one of the worst tenement fires in Hongkong’s history”.
“The dead included a few who made desperate jumps into the street to escape the inferno that swept through the wooden floors of the houses in record time, fanned by a strong, cold wind,” continued the article.
Seventeen children, the youngest aged two, were among the victims, hundreds were made homeless and a further 53 remained unaccounted for.
Tenants living opposite the burning buildings said they would never forget “the cries of women and children who were trapped by the spreading flames”.
“Fifteen bodies were recovered from a kitchen on the top floor of one of the houses. It is thought that these people had sought refuge in the kitchen, which the flames eventually reached and destroyed.”
The death toll rose to 59 in the following days. “The fire has made 429 people homeless,” reported the Post on February 16. “They are now at the Yaumati Welfare Centre, where meals are being provided by the Social Welfare Office.”