A 61-year-old local man perished in a fire yesterday in a flat in Block 4 of Lok Kuan Building in Seac Pai Van – and the Fire Services Bureau (CB) said that “the local man was burnt to a crisp in the flat”, adding that the Judiciary Police were immediately notified about the incident for further investigation into the “suspicious” case.
According to the Fire Services Bureau, the incident occurred at about 7 p.m. yesterday. Upon arrival at the scene, firefighters saw an inferno on the sixth floor of the flat in the social rental housing estate. The fire was extinguished using an open hose.
About 20 dwellers self-evacuated from the scene.
The Fire Services Bureau noted that, according to a preliminary investigation, the man’s body was found with his hands and legs bound. The metal gate of his flat was believed by the firefighters to have been blocked by a TV cabinet when they broke into the flat.
In a statement late last night, the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS) identified the victim as a member of a family receiving support from a social welfare organisation subsidised by the bureau.
PJ rule out possibility of homicide
The Judiciary Police (PJ) said in a statement early today that the victim was a person with long-term mental problems and a record of self-injury, adding that he lived with a family member in the flat, but the other family member had recently left the home for a few days.
The statement also quoted the social worker who had been looking after the victim as saying that the victim had received medical treatment. The social worker visited the victim’s home yesterday and followed up on his condition, and left only in the evening. At about 7 p.m. after leaving the victim’s home, the social worker received a call from the victim, who behaved abnormally and suddenly ended the call with the social worker.
According to the PJ statement, the fire started in a room in the flat, where the victim was found on a chair. It added that no signs of fighting or looting were found inside the flat and that the door to the flat was locked from the inside when firefighters arrived.
PJ spokesman Chong Kim Fong said, as quoted by the statement, that “after examination of the body and a forensic pathologist, the injuries sustained by the deceased were consistent with the circumstances of the scene, and no other suspicious injuries or suspected to have been inflicted were found,” ruling out the possibility of homicide during the preliminary investigation.
The exact cause of the death has yet to be determined until the outcome of a forensic examination of the body, the statement said.
Judiciary Police (PJ) and fire engines are seen during last night’s deadly fire at a flat in Block 4 of Lok Kuan Building in Seac Pai Van, Coloane. – Photo: William Chan
