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Global Funeral Parlour in Hung Hom is providing only limited funeral hall services after a major power failure disrupted lighting, air-conditioning, ventilation and lift services amid Hong Kong’s prolonged spell of hot weather.
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The outage occurred at around 3pm on Sunday, according to information obtained by Sing Tao, The Standard’s sister publication.
The five-story funeral home on Cheong Hang Road has five funeral halls and 16 smaller mourning rooms.
The power failure affected several floors, with the fifth floor reportedly among the worst hit. Some mourning rooms were left without electricity while families were conducting funeral rites, causing smoke to build up indoors as incense and offerings were burned.
Some halls retained lighting but lost air-conditioning, prompting staff to bring in fans to provide temporary relief from the heat.
There were also reports that some bodies placed in mourning rooms developed an odor because of the elevated indoor temperatures, prompting concerns among bereaved families. Some affected funerals and remains were subsequently transferred to the neighboring International Funeral Parlour or other venues on Monday.
However, Global Funeral Parlour said the mortuary in the basement, where bodies are kept in refrigerated storage, was not affected by the outage and that its cooling facilities continued to operate normally. It stressed that remains stored in the mortuary were not affected.
A funeral planner wrote on social media that the building had become smoky and stuffy during the outage, forcing families to temporarily suspend the burning of paper offerings while repair workers attempted to restore power.
When Sing Tao reporters visited the funeral home on Tuesday morning, lighting and air-conditioning had been restored on the ground and first floors, while the third to fifth floors remained closed.
Notices displayed at the premises said technicians had been called in to carry out emergency repairs. Electrical workers were also seen working on power equipment.
Global Funeral Parlour later said the fault involved a busbar riser and fuses inside the second-floor meter room.
The exact cause remained under investigation, and it was not yet known whether the prolonged hot weather had contributed to the failure.
Tung Wah Group of Hospitals, which operates the funeral home, apologized to affected families.
It said funeral service operators renting affected halls would receive refunds. Families transferred to International Funeral Parlour or Diamond Hill Funeral Parlour would also be provided with alternative venues free of charge.
The operator added that the building’s electrical systems undergo regular inspections as required by law, and that recommendations for replacement or improvement are implemented as soon as possible. The latest inspection report had indicated that the systems were operating normally.
The incident has renewed concerns within the funeral industry over aging facilities at the premises.
Global Funeral Parlour was formerly the Urban Council Hung Hom Public Funeral Parlour and was completed in 1978, making the building more than four decades old.
Industry figures have previously raised concerns over aging air-conditioning and ventilation systems at the facility, citing problems such as leaking air-conditioning units in body storage areas and malfunctioning cooling systems in funeral halls.
Ventilation failures can also cause smoke to accumulate during religious rituals involving incense and the burning of offerings.
An industry source said the building is government-owned and currently operated by Tung Wah Group of Hospitals under a five-year operating contract awarded by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department.
The source said the relatively short operating term could discourage operators from making major investments in infrastructure, such as replacing the building’s main electrical switchboards or carrying out extensive upgrades to power systems.
Industry representatives have called on the government to review the condition of the facility and consider taking the lead in a comprehensive hardware upgrade to meet modern funeral service needs.
