2 women climb out of window to flee Hong Kong building fire that injured 3 others
Police say they were alerted at 5.28pm of blaze at Yen Dack Building on Chun Yeung Street in North Point
Two women climbed out of a window of a residential building in Hong Kong to escape a fire that sent three people to hospital on Sunday, police said.
Police received multiple reports at 5.28pm of a blaze at Yen Dack Building on Chun Yeung Street in North Point.
Thick smoke billowed from a high-floor unit as firefighters arrived, deploying a water jet and a breathing apparatus team. The fire was extinguished at 6.19pm.
Two women and a man, aged 58 to 78, were taken conscious to Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital in Chai Wan after inhaling smoke.
The two women who escaped to safety were seen struggling to get out through the window – grabbing water pipes and stepping onto air-conditioner units as they descended to a flat on a lower floor – startling onlookers on the ground.
About 20 people were evacuated during the blaze, with police and firefighters helping elderly tenants.
The fire broke out in a flat reportedly occupied by a Tanzanian father and his eight-year-old daughter. Household items were accidentally ignited when someone used a lighter, police said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.