‘Our spirit is tougher’: Survivor recounts terrifying ordeal and acts of bravery

A survivor’s gripping first-person account of escaping the deadly five-alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po has gone viral, moving tens of thousands of Hongkongers and drawing praise for his courage in saving his neighbors while trapped in choking darkness.

The blaze, which began Wednesday and swept across seven residential blocks, has claimed at least 94 lives and injured 76 others, leaving nearly 2,000 households devastated.

As investigations continue into one of Hong Kong’s worst residential fires, the survivor’s testimony — shared widely across social media — has offered a rare, intimate view into the terror and humanity inside the burning estate.

The man, who lived on the second floor of Wang Cheong House, said he learned of the fire only when his wife phoned him. When he opened his front door, he wrote, his surroundings turned to “absolute blackness,” engulfed by thick smoke. Even with his mobile torchlight switched on, he “could not see [his] own hand,” and was forced to retreat into his flat as he struggled to breathe.

On the phone, his wife told him the lobby had already turned into a sea of flames. He felt the last exit was gone, leaving him trapped in “a place called home, now a purgatory.”

Racing into the corridor to save his neighbors

Just as despair set in, he heard voices calling for help in the corridor. He grabbed a wet towel, covered his mouth and nose, and rushed out. Within seconds, his eyes burned and his throat felt scalded. Still, he groped along the wall and shouted “Come this way!” until his hands brushed against a couple. He pulled them into his flat.

“I finally sighed with relief — and I knew I was no longer fighting alone,” he wrote.

He handed them wet towels, water, and suitable clothes and shoes to escape in, telling them firmly: “We’re not going to die.”

Hours waiting for rescue

For hours, they sat by the window as burning debris rained down from above — “like black snowflakes mixed with sparks,” he recalled — filling him with helplessness. He wondered whether he would survive the day. “Life or death — this ultimate philosophical question had never felt so concrete, so grotesque,” he wrote.

He called his mother overseas to assure her of his safety, but said when he hung up, “my eyes stung with tears — it felt like a farewell.”

As the smoke worsened, the couple began to gasp for air. At around 6pm, firefighters finally raised a ladder to rescue them. He insisted the couple go first, telling himself, “I’m younger. I can endure a bit more.”

“Everything I wanted to take — and nothing I could take”

In his final moments inside the flat, he turned to look at his home: the model kits he had painstakingly painted, his treasured limited-edition collectibles, his branded goods, the toys his children loved, the items his wife cherished.

“I wanted to take everything… but I couldn’t take anything,” he wrote.

He was later taken to hospital. For the first time in his life, he said, he did not want to be discharged. “Can I still go home?” he asked himself.

The fire taught him a brutal truth: “In the face of impermanence, we have never been the masters — only temporary and fragile dwellers.”

He thanked the firefighters who risked their lives to reach them, ending with a message of resilience: “Though times are tough, our spirit is tougher. Let’s heal and rebuild together.”

His account has resonated deeply online. Tens of thousands of users left messages of support: “Thank you for not giving up — and for saving a couple.” Others added, “May you live a long, safe, and peaceful life,” and “You must have good fortune ahead.”