Mentally ill woman spends 2 days in Hong Kong flat with dead mother on sofa

A woman with a chronic illness has been found dead in a Hong Kong public housing flat where her uninjured adult daughter, who suffers from mental illness, had been staying with her for at least two days.

Police received a report at about 1.50pm on Monday from a 42-year-old woman who said she could not reach her 66-year-old mother and 34-year-old younger sister, who lived in Fu Ying House, Fu Cheong Estate, Sham Shui Po.

The report was made after she visited the flat but received no response at the door and feared her mother had collapsed inside, a police spokesman said.

Officers arrived and the younger daughter opened the door. The woman was found on a sofa.

The younger sister, who has schizophrenia, was taken to Caritas Medical Centre in Sham Shui Po for examination.

She told police her mother had been sitting unresponsive on the sofa since Saturday afternoon.