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Clifford Lo

A woman died and her businessman husband was fighting for his life after he allegedly set fire to their flat in an upmarket area of Hong Kong to kill himself and his wife on Wednesday.
Firefighters broke into the flat and found the woman in the living room and the man in the bathroom.
The woman had serious burns all over her body and the man had burns to his hands and face.
The Fire Services Department said neither had a pulse or were breathing when found.
The couple were rushed to Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, where the woman later died.
“The man remained in a coma in the hospital’s intensive care unit and was in a life-threatening condition [at 5pm],” the source said.
A suicide note written by the businessman was found in a bedroom at the flat.
“The note indicated that the man was having relationship problems with his wife and he decided to take revenge on his wife and commit suicide,” Superintendent Terrence Tse Tsz-kwan, an assistant Central district police commander, said.
A source said it was possible the man, 66, secured the front door with three padlocks before he started the fire in the living room of the couple’s seventh-floor flat at Belmont Court on Kotewall Road in the Mid-Levels just before 1pm.

Tse said preliminary investigations suggested the couple had been having marital problems and slept in separate bedrooms in the flat, where they lived with their son, who was in his thirties.
“The couple had been in the process of getting a divorce in recent years and were also in a dispute over their assets,” he added.
The incident is being treated as murder, attempted suicide and arson. Detectives from the Central district crime squad are investigating.
Tse said an autopsy would be carried out to check whether the woman was strangled before the fire started and to establish the exact cause of her death.
He added that the fire had spread very quickly and police were working with fire service investigators to see whether an accelerator was used to fuel the blaze.
Police said they had not logged any reports of domestic disputes or violence involving the family.
Emergency personnel were called to the flat at around 12.58pm after police received multiple calls from householders in the block.
“The callers reported that dense smoke was coming from one of the flats in the building,” a police spokesman said.
Nine fire engines and 57 firefighters, as well as paramedics and five ambulances were deployed to the scene.
The fire service said about 30 people evacuated the building before emergency services arrived at the scene.
Police logged eight reports of murder between January and May, a drop of three cases on the 11 recorded for the same period in 2023.
If you have suicidal thoughts, or you know someone who is, help is available. For Hong Kong, dial +852 18111 for the government-run “Mental Health Support Hotline” or +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans and +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services.
In the US, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.
For a list of other nations’ helplines, see this page.


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