A man who survived one of Hong Kong's most devastating residential fires has described the harrowing moment he telephoned his family to say what he believed would be his final goodbye, convinced he had only minutes to live.
A Routine Day Turns Into a Nightmare
William Li, 40, was enjoying a day off at home when his wife called him shortly after 3pm. She urgently warned him that their building in the Wang Fuk Court complex was on fire. Initially, there was no cause for alarm inside his second-floor flat; no alarms sounded, no smoke was visible, and there was no smell of burning. Mr Li calmly changed out of his pyjamas before attempting to leave.
However, when he opened his door barely eight minutes later, the situation had deteriorated catastrophically. The corridor had transformed into a tunnel of thick, black smoke. "Everything went black before my eyes. I thought to myself: I'm in serious trouble," the father-of-two recalled. Realising escape was impossible, he slammed the door shut and took refuge inside.
Acts of Courage Amidst the Chaos
Moments later, he heard the distressed sounds of two elderly neighbours coughing and panicking in the smoke-filled hallway. He bravely opened his door again and led them to the relative safety of his flat as toxic smoke surged towards them. The pair revealed that their window had overheated and shattered, allowing flames to roar directly into their home. Mr Li feared his own windows would suffer the same fate.
"That was the moment I began to feel death was very close to me," he said. With explosions echoing outside and his room glowing an ominous orange from the encroaching flames, Mr Li made the heartbreaking decision to phone friends, begging them to look after his family if he did not survive. He even received a panicked call from his mother, who lives in the UK. "I told her not to worry, but I felt like I was facing the end of my life," he admitted.
For more than two hours, Li and his neighbours remained trapped while the fire raged through the complex. The blaze, which erupted during renovation works, raced up bamboo scaffolding wrapped in nylon netting. It then jumped between buildings when highly flammable foam panels attached to windows ignited.
Aftermath and a Community's Resilience
This inferno has become Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, claiming the lives of at least 128 people. The fate of another 150 residents remains unclear. The fire was so extensive that seven of the estate's eight towers were engulfed, requiring more than 800 firefighters to battle extreme heat for over 40 hours to bring it under control.
Authorities have since arrested eleven people, including construction bosses, engineers, and scaffolding contractors. Investigators are probing why fire alarms failed to operate and whether the materials used on the exterior walls met required safety standards.
Wang Fuk Court, a sprawling 31-storey estate near the mainland Chinese border, was home to nearly 4,800 residents, many of them elderly. Around 900 people were forced to seek emergency shelter, with volunteers and off-duty medics rushing to the district to assist.
During his ordeal, Li, who grew up in the complex, shared photos online showing the night sky blazing orange outside his window. He considered jumping but instead used wet towels to block smoke from seeping under his door and waited for rescue. Help finally arrived around 5pm when firefighters propped a ladder against the scaffolding outside his flat. Li insisted his elderly neighbours be rescued first, helping them crawl out of a small window and across the scaffolding to safety.
"Once they had gone, I was left alone in the flat," he said. "My feelings were very heavy because I knew I had to leave this home and that it might be swallowed by fire." As firefighters shouted warnings about falling debris, they hosed him down with cold water to protect him from the flames during his descent. "The cold water drenched my whole body. The emotions were overwhelming, hard to describe. But I felt very lucky."
Hours later, during an emotional reunion, his wife cried until she had no tears left. His daughter rushed to him screaming, "Daddy didn't die!" while his young son sat silently with tears streaming down his face. Now, like thousands of others, Li is left with nothing but the clothes he escaped in. His building is uninhabitable, and all their belongings are destroyed.
"No matter how many supplies are given, we can only carry what our hands can hold," he said. "But Hong Kong people are full of compassion. The donations, the kindness… we are very grateful."
