A sense of sombre unity permeated the whole of Hong Kong on Saturday as residents from all walks of life mourned the victims of the city’s deadliest fire in seven decades by signing condolence books or flooding areas near the scene of the inferno with bouquets.
By Saturday evening, lengthy queues had grown near ground zero, Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, with residents of all ages silently lining up with flowers in hand, turning several memorial sites into a sea of bouquets to remember those killed in the blaze that erupted on Wednesday.
At least 128 people were killed and 83 injured by the fire that engulfed seven of the eight 31-storey residential blocks.
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It took Eddy Au Yeung, a 41-year-old who works in the import and export sector, at least 45 minutes for his turn.
“I live in Hong Kong. This estate and its many blocks have a lot of residents who lost their homes and their families; it is something that is very hard to accept,” he said.
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“When I saw the site with my eyes for the first time, I thought that it was in such a horrible place, it was almost like hell on Earth. Being inside must have been very hard.”