Hong Kong worker, 61, seriously injured in factory fire; 3 others escape unscathed
- Worker at Yuen Long plastics factory tried to extinguish fire but sustained burns to more than 50 per cent of his body
- More than 160 firefighters and paramedics sent to deal with high-intensity blaze
The blaze ignited a two-storey plastics factory in the rural village of Wing Ning Tsuen on Yung Yuen Road in Yuen Long at around 12.39am.
Chief Inspector Mak Sze-wai, an assistant Yuen Long divisional commander, said the factory worker was in the first-floor resting room when the fire broke out.
“He attempted to extinguish it, but suffered burn injuries,” Mak said, adding that three of the worker’s colleagues managed to escape unharmed from the building before emergency personnel arrived.
The Fire Services Department sent a total of more than 160 firefighters and paramedics, with 38 fire engines and five ambulances, to the scene. Fire hoses up to 700 metres (2,300 feet) long were laid to reach the water source.
Samuel Wong Chun-on, the department’s acting New Territories North divisional officer, said the factory “housed a large quantity of plastic hoses that caused dense smoke”.
