A ‘final piano song’ offers closure as residents say goodbye to Wang Fuk Court homes

Residents face emotional returns to fire-ravaged flats, salvaging belongings and memories under tightly controlled 15-day programme schedule

Playing one last song on a piano that cannot be retrieved from a fire-ravaged home is among the wishes of residents returning to the scene of the deadly Tai Po blaze, with one man climbing stairs on a fractured leg to try and recover a water boiler linked to his childhood memories.

Some of those returning to their homes on Friday had lived in Wang Cheong House, the worst-hit block, where 81 of the 168 deaths in the Tai Po fire occurred. Only five floors of the block – where 63 per cent of flats were gutted – are being opened each day over a six-day period ending next Tuesday.

Others are from Wang Yan House, where residents are returning in batches over three days until Saturday.

A Wang Cheong House resident surnamed Kwok suffered a fractured foot in the fire but was prepared to hobble up seven floors to his former home.

Kwok said he had asked a social worker whether he could return at a later date after his recovery but was told only that the department would make proactive arrangements.

Fearing he might miss the opportunity, he decided to make the ascent with the help of friends and a folding chair.