A fire broke out in the early hours of December 13 at the Tak Chak House in Tin Chung Court, Tin Shui Wai, Hong Kong, causing 430 residents to wake up from their sleep and evacuate immediately.
According to reports from various Hong Kong media outlets, at around 3 a.m. on the 13th, a unit on the upper floors of Tak Chak House in Tin Chung Court caught fire. Firefighters broke into the unit and extinguished the fire.
Inside the unit’s bedroom, firefighters found the male owner who was conscious but emotionally distressed and had burn marks on his upper body. He was rushed to Tuen Mun Hospital for treatment but fell into a coma on the way and was subsequently transferred to Prince of Wales Hospital, where his condition is critical.
During the fire, firefighters and police helped evacuate 23 residents from the affected unit and nearby floors, with approximately 430 people evacuated from the building. Upon hearing the fire alarm, residents self-evacuated to the outside of the building.
As the fire occurred in the wee hours of the night, some residents escaped wearing pajamas, with some carrying infants or pets. Some residents expressed being “particularly shocked” upon hearing the alarm due to the recent five-alarm fire incident at Ho Fook Yuen in Tai Po.
The case has been classified as an arson case. After reviewing CCTV footage, the police discovered that the injured male homeowner mentioned earlier is a suspect in the case, currently unemployed and living alone. The authorities are investigating his motive for the crime and looking into his mental and physical health history.