Families provide DNA samples to help identify loved ones lost in Hong Kong fire
About 100 households asked to provide samples as authorities try to identify remains found at Wang Fuk Court
About a dozen families who lost loved ones in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire have given samples of their DNA to authorities who are trying to identify victims still missing nearly two weeks after the blaze.
A source said police had contacted about 100 households to provide the samples, and the first groups of relatives were seen entering Kwong Fuk Community Hall near the scene of the disaster on Monday morning.
Most arrived in pairs and spent about half an hour inside the centre. Many left with their heads down, saying it could be weeks before they knew the results.
“Officers said they found a small lump of human remains in the unit but don’t know whether it belongs to our mother or father, since both of them were in the flat at that time,” a woman, who only gave her surname as Chan, said.
Chan went to the centre with her sister in hopes of identifying their parents, who had lived in a flat on the lower floors of Wang Cheong House at Wang Fuk Court for decades.
“They [officers] also told us that they might have been burned to ash, since the temperature inside was similar to an incinerator,” she said.