Hong Kong woman dies in hospital after being rescued from flat where firefighters found elderly mother’s decomposing body
- Emergency services called to Tuen Mun flat after security guards reported a bad smell coming from home
- Women were found in separate rooms, and police do not suspect foul play
A woman died in hospital hours after she was rescued from a Hong Kong flat in which firefighters found the decomposing body of her elderly mother.
The 53-year-old woman’s elder brother visited the flat in Tuen Mun at about midday on Sunday, after security staff at the Siu Hong Court estate previously alerted him to an odd smell coming from inside, according to police and Tuen Mun district councillor Josephine Chan Shu-ying.
But the Siu Fai House flat was locked, prompting the man to call emergency services for help.
After firefighters broke into the flat, they found an 81-year-old woman dead in the living room, and her daughter unconscious in a different room. She was rushed to Tuen Mun Hospital but died at 2.52pm.
Officers do not believe any foul play was involved, but a police source said further checks were necessary, and a postmortem would be carried out to establish cause of death.
The 53-year-old woman’s brother told the media his mother had no major illnesses, and got along with her daughter well.
According to the source, police were investigating the possibility the 53-year-old woman suffered from a mental illness. The brother told officers he suspected this might be the case as his sister often shouted for no reason.
