Hong Kong officials under pressure over building safety standards after fire rips through flat leaving at least seven dead
- Authorities suspect more than 18 people were celebrating festival inside the 800 square foot space, which was missing sprinklers
- The lack of fire suppression systems is common in old buildings across the city, but government makes fresh pledge to inspect 2,500 of them by end of the year
Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in nearly a decade, after killing seven people, has put the spotlight on the lack of fire safety enforcement at small, unlicensed restaurants hidden in dilapidated old buildings with no sprinkler systems.
Sunday’s fire tore through an 800 sq ft flat converted into a Nepalese kitchen-style diner on the first floor of a single-staircase, 69-year-old tenement building in Yau Ma Tei, where families were celebrating a child’s birthday as well as Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights.
Authorities identified the seven fatalities as four males and three females, aged eight to 40, who were taken to hospital where they were certified dead or succumbed to their injuries. Three men and four women were still in hospital on Monday with life-threatening injuries, one other was in a serious condition, two others were in stable condition and one had been discharged.
The place known as “Jeere Khursani” – or “hot chilis” in Nepali – on Canton Road is believed to be one of many such establishments which circumvent licensing requirements for restaurants by operating as private dining “clubs” that are popular among ethnic minority groups seeking community gathering venues with relatively cheaper food and drinks.
Dambar Krishna Shrestha, a Nepalese resident, told the Post there were at least five to 10 such establishments in the same neighbourhood alone.