Nearly all residents of blaze-hit towers in Tai Po return to collect belongings
Government says 6,265 people joined return programme that ended on Monday, with only about 50 households not taking part
Nearly all of the residents of the seven towers engulfed in flames at Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court last year returned to their former homes to retrieve their belongings over a 15-day operation that ended on Monday, with police investigating at least 19 suspected thefts.
The government said 6,265 people from 1,674 households took part in the return programme that began on April 20, including some who were helping to move the belongings who were not former residents of the Tai Po estate.
“The vast majority of the residents returned to their units within the 15-day period, while fewer than 10 households required other arrangements,” Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing said. “About 50 households decided not to return to their units.”
As of Monday, the force had received 131 reports from residents of suspected thefts, but officers were investigating 19. The remaining cases were not pursued after the items were recovered with police help, confirmed destroyed in the blaze or because no signs of ransacking were found.
The inferno on November 26 last year engulfed seven of the estate’s eight blocks, killing 168 people and displacing nearly 5,000 others.
Of the 1,736 flats across the seven blocks, 924 sustained various levels of damage, with some reduced to ashes. Each household was given three hours to collect their belongings.