Filipino domestic helper Rhodora Alcaraz arrived in Hong Kong on Tuesday last week and went straight to work at her employer’s flat in Tai Po, finding herself battling flames a day later to make a miraculous escape with a three-month-old baby in her arms.
The 27-year-old is now in an intensive care unit, unable to speak above a whisper, after suffering injuries, including to her throat, which made her feel like she had “poison pouring down her throat”.
Last week, she arrived from her Central Luzon hometown in the Philippines, full of plans to save up enough to help her younger teenage brother finish college.
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Little did she know her second day at work would also be the day of the biggest fire in Hong Kong in decades, and she would be swept up in it, one of the 79 people injured in the deadly blaze that claimed at least 159 lives.
She was at the flat in Wang Fuk Court with the baby and her female employer that afternoon while the husband was at work. The fire broke out at 2.51pm, quickly escalating in less than four hours.
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From accounts of her relatives in Hong Kong and the Philippines, Alcaraz had the presence of mind to care for her little ward.