2 suffer burns, 2 jump from sixth-floor window after fire breaks out in Hong Kong building
- The man and woman jumped down to the building’s first-floor terrace, and suffered a fracture and a back injury, respectively
- The couple who lived in the flat where the fire began suffered burns to their backs before being rescued by firefighters
Two people suffered burns and another two were injured jumping from a sixth-floor window after a blaze broke out in a Hong Kong residential building on Friday morning.
The fire started at 7.35am in a 172 sq ft subdivided flat on the sixth floor of the Sing On Building on Temple Street in Yau Ma Tei. A 34-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman who lived in the unit suffered burns to their backs before being rescued by firefighters.
According to the Fire Services Department, another couple who lived in a separate unit in the subdivided flat, both 35, jumped out of their window to escape the blaze.
“They jumped to the terrace on the first floor. The woman suffered from a bone fracture in her right leg, while the man injured his back,” said senior station officer Wu Tsun-ho. “The four individuals were conscious and were sent to Queen Mary Hospital or Kwong Wah Hospital for treatment.”
The fire was put out in 20 minutes, and 37 residents were evacuated from the building.
Wu said authorities were still investigating the cause of the blaze, but added that officers would take follow-up action after noticing the 57-year-old tenement building did not have any fire safety equipment.
Under Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance (Cap. 572), buildings constructed on or before March 1, 1987 are required to enhance their fire safety measures to meet modern standards.
For non-compliant buildings, the Fire Services and Buildings departments issue Fire Safety Directions to owners or occupants specifying the improvement works required to be carried out.
In 2021, a total of 33,891 fires were reported, representing a tiny increase over the 2020 figure. Last year 23 people were killed and another 306 were injured in fires.
