Arrived in Hong Kong for a month-long visit on Thursday night. I only started hearing about the tragic fire in Tai Po hours before my flight while I was packing my luggage in the middle of the night. Discussed about it with the friend who kindly drove me to the airport in the very early morning. He said he had relatives living in the residential buildings where the fire broke out. I think neither of us knew the seriousness of the fire back then.
After arriving at YVR and while waiting for my connecting flight to HK, I started seeing horrific photos of many buildings in flames in my IG feed. I texted my friend and found out his relatives were safe.
Upon arriving in HK, I quickly skimmed through my IG feed for the latest updates, the death toll had rose to 55 with over two hundred people still missing. My brother-in-law picked me up from the airport and we went directly to have dinner with my sister and parents. My dad said one of his friends who lived in the area was fortunately not at home when the deadly fire broke out.
In the days that followed, I continued to soak in all the sad news that I had missed during my travel. The latest death toll was 128 and counting. It is the deadliest fire in the history of HK. And today after Sunday service, I tagged along my sister and brother-in-law to visit the site to pay respect to the many lives that were lost. It was my first time to experience the collective mourning of the entire city. I pray that God would be merciful to the many souls that were lost and continue to comfort and help those who had lost their loved ones and their homes. 🙏🏻
