An elderly couple who narrowly escaped the Wang Fuk Court inferno with their lives have been given free rooms and three daily meals at a Sino Group hotel, where staff leave handwritten get-well cards and small care packages outside their door each day, turning what could have been a bleak evacuation into a surprising pocket of warmth amid the city’s grief.
Their daughter shared the story on social media on Sunday, explaining that her mother happened to be at work and her father had stepped out on an errand, something he rarely does at that hour, when the fire broke out, saving both from the disaster that has so far claimed 151 lives.
Now temporarily housed at one of three Sino hotels offering shelter to displaced residents, the couple told their daughter they feel genuinely touched by the daily gestures of kindness, from the hot meals to the simple notes wishing them strength.
She wrote that she had braced herself for her parents to be devastated at losing the home they had planned to retire in, yet found them remarkably calm and grateful simply to be alive.
The post quickly struck a chord online, with thousands thanking the property giant for stepping up and reminding everyone that, as one commenter put it, having your life when so many others lost theirs is already the greatest victory.
