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When a deadly fire in Hong Kong killed seven in cage homes, just before Christmas

The fire in a bed-space apartment, or cage home, in Sham Shui Po claimed seven lives and left 50 more injured, and led to calls for tougher fire safety rules

Fire officers attributed the deaths to corridors and staircases being blocked with rubbish and shopping trolleys. Survivors moved into temporary housing

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80-year-old Lee Sing, who lived in the bed-space apartment building where the fire broke out, moves into Kowloon Bay Temporary Housing Area. Photo: David Wong

Published: 11:15am, 24 Dec 2022

“Calls for tougher fire regulations came yesterday after a blaze in a Shamshuipo bed-space apartment block left six dead and 50 injured,” reported the South China Morning Post on December 24, 1990.

“The Fire Services Department set up two teams to investigate the cause of the fire and to find out why a hydraulic platform used to rescue people trapped in the building at 67 Nam Cheong Street collapsed.

“Fire officers said many of the deaths were due to corridors and staircases being blocked with rubbish and shopping trolleys while metal gates were locked, sealing escape routes.

“Firemen had to cut through illegal structures built on the outside of the units to free tenants trapped inside the building, mainly in bed-space apartments.”

A hydraulic platform of a fire engine collapses in Sham Shui Po while attempting to rescue trapped residents from a residential building on Nam Cheong Street. Photo: Robert Ng

On December 27, the Post reported that “twenty-three of the 50 people injured in the fire that raged through a Shamshuipo bed-space apartment block on Sunday have been released from hospital. But five people who were seriously injured in the blaze are still in a poor condition.