Hong Kong building where deadly fire erupted is warren of flats and businesses

Dozens of guest houses, 100 subdivided flats and many commercial premises fill the building where a deadly fire broke out on Wednesday morning, according to some residents and the Post’s observation. Authorities said the fire could have started on the first and second floors of New Lucky House on Kowloon’s Jordan Road early in the morning. Resident Sarbahoj Limbu said she was fast asleep when the blaze started. She only woke up when her father, who left their 14th-floor flat for a morning walk, called her and the rest of the family. “We all got up and there was smoke everywhere,” the 40-year-old said. “We couldn’t see anything.” Limbu said she had run down to the 13th floor, but the thick smoke on the lower stories forced her to shelter in a neighbour’s home as they waited for firefighters to take them downstairs. She said the building was home to a variety of businesses and she sometimes felt the place was “not so safe”. Authorities have said the No 3 alarm fire resulted in five deaths. A resident in his seventies who only gave his name as Sung said the strong smell of burning plastic in his third-floor flat had awoken him and prompted him to rush downstairs. But he suddenly realised that was risky. “I sprinted as fast as I could all the way up to the 16th floor. I was heaving and out of breath by the time I got there,” he said. “I am an old man. I’m not supposed to run like that.” Sung said he and dozens of others waited on the building’s roof until they were told it was safe to evacuate on their own. A construction worker surnamed Man, who was based at a site near New Lucky House, told local media that labourers had used a suspended working platform to help residents escape. “We saw huge smoke coming out of the building when we started working. Some shouted for help on the third floor, while some ran out to the podium on the first floor,” he said. “We made two ladders for them to come down, and transferred an elderly person to the ground with the platform. It’s life and death. We help when we can.” The 60-year-old New Lucky House contains more than 200 residential homes and businesses, according to real estate websites. Lam Kin-kwan, commander of the Fire Services Department’s Kowloon South division, said they included 35 licensed guest houses and “a number of subdivided flats”. Police Superintendent Neil Burnett, the Yau Ma Tei divisional commander, said among those fleeing the building were overseas travellers staying in guest houses, with some scheduled to fly from Hong Kong that day. “We’re doing all we can to facilitate them to get their luggage and to get on their planes,” he said. A Post reporter also observed that the building had traditional Chinese medicine clinics, as well as offices and shops. Power Gymnasium, on the building’s first floor, is known as one of the last remaining “iron plate” style bodybuilding gyms popular throughout the 1970s, giving it an iconic status in Jordan. Vincent Cheng Wing-shun, a lawmaker from the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong, said he witnessed about 100 people at a temporary shelter set up for those affected by the fire. “The building contains a lot of residents and guest houses. I spoke to people from South Korea, Japan and Thailand,” he said. “They know the government is providing assistance to them.” Fellow legislator Edward Leung Hei said the building’s first and second floors were likely to remain sealed off to residents for the time being, with members of his political party helping to source free accommodation at five hotels for the victims. Firefighters enter Hong Kong construction site to fight overnight blaze Leung said he had received 35 calls for help, and about 30 rooms in six hotels in Yau Tsim Mong district were available to accommodate the residents. “But I believe more rooms are needed since there will be no supply of electricity and gas in the building tonight,” he said, adding it was difficult to estimate the exact number of residents who needed places to sleep. The lawmaker said the Home Affairs Department would handle the distribution of rooms, with hotels to provide accommodation on a voluntary basis. He suggested the government consider opening the makeshift hospital in Kai Tak, which was used for Covid-19 patients, for the affected residents. Additional reporting by Harvey Kong and Willa Wu