A 56-year-old man has died in a suspected electrical fire that ripped through a high-rise flat in Hong Kong’s northwest New Territories, prompting the evacuation of around 320 residents.
Police said on Sunday that the man was taken to Pok Oi Hospital, where he was later certified dead. A 54-year-old woman found at the scene remains in a coma at Tuen Mun Hospital.
Officers received a report at 6.19am on Sunday from a resident of Yoho Town, a private housing estate on Yuen Lung Street in Yuen Long, saying that thick smoke and flames were billowing from an upper-floor flat. Firefighters were dispatched and extinguished the blaze by 6.42am.
During a search of the smoke-filled unit, firefighters found a man and a woman lying unconscious inside. The intensity of the blaze prompted a large-scale evacuation of around 320 residents.
Police said a preliminary investigation suggested the fire may have involved electrical appliances in the flat.
It was the second fatal high-rise fire in a week. Last Sunday, a blaze at Shek Kip Mei Estate left one dead and eight injured, forcing the evacuation of about 270 residents from Mei Yue House.
