Seven hurt in Hong Kong flat fire after electric meter bursts into flames
Injured at Hung Hom block include three children and pregnant woman
Seven people, including three children and a pregnant woman, were sent to hospital after inhaling smoke in a fire that broke out in a block of flats in Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon.
The three children – a three-month-old boy and two girls aged one and two – and four adults – three women and a man – were taken conscious to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei for treatment.
Emergency services were called to Whampoa Building on Ming On Street in Hung Hom when an electric meter burst into flames at the front staircases on the mezzanine floor of the 15-storey block soon after 1pm.
Eleven fire engines and six ambulances were dispatched to the scene and about 50 firefighters were deployed after receiving 22 calls for help, Hung Hom fire station officer Yu Tat-shing said.
He added that 40 people had exited the building before emergency personnel arrived and another 30 residents were led to safety by firefighters.
Three people die in blaze in Hong Kong industrial building
The blaze was extinguished within 30 minutes, and three electric meters were damaged in the incident.
Yu said initial investigation found nothing suspicious and staff from electricity company CLP were looking into the cause.
Separately, a 79-year-old man died when his public housing flat in Kowloon City burst into flames on Wednesday night.
The fire broke out at the 27th-floor flat of Yuet Ching House, Kai Ching Estate at 7.46pm Wednesday. It was put out at 8.15pm.
The Fire Services Department said the elderly man, who lived alone, was found unconscious in the flat. He was taken to United Christian Hospital in Kwun Tong, where he was certified dead at about 8.30pm that night.
Initial investigation found nothing suspicious, the department said.
