Since assisting his neighbors during the devastating fire that engulfed his lifelong home in Hong Kong, William Li has struggled with the “hero” label.
Instead, he is tormented by the thought that he might have rescued more individuals from the Wang Fuk Court blaze, which resulted in at least 159 fatalities.
“Every time someone calls me a hero, my heart breaks,” the 40-year-old stated, overcome with emotion.
A week after the tragedy, firefighters are still searching the complex of seven burnt-out high-rises for the remains of 30 of Mr. Li’s neighbors – individuals who, like him, were unfortunately at home when the deadly fire began.
The cause of the fire and the reasons why more people were unable to escape are now under investigation by an independent committee, as mandated by Hong Kong’s chief executive.
Preliminary findings indicate that non-fire-resistant netting had been installed around the building, and the fire alarms were malfunctioning.
The fact that the alarms did not sound is reportedly why Mr. Li wasn’t initially alarmed when his wife informed him about the fire in their building, Wang Cheong House.
Instead of immediately rushing out, he spent nearly 10 minutes gathering belongings.
However, upon opening the door, the magnitude of the disaster became apparent: he was enveloped in thick smoke and forced to retreat back inside his apartment.
His wife became frantic on the phone, but Mr. Li had no time to panic.
He quickly placed wet towels under the door to prevent smoke from entering and began strategizing his next move.
That’s when he heard voices in the hallway, where the smoke was so thick that visibility was limited. Covering his face with a wet towel, he located two of his neighbors by touch, pulling them into the relative safety of his apartment.
In a neighboring building, Bai Shui Lin was also actively assisting her neighbors.
The 66-year-old is believed to have saved at least three families by knocking on their doors to alert them to the fire.
Tragically, Mrs. Bai did not survive. Her sons identified her body over the weekend.
“If I’d asked her to leave a minute earlier, I think she would have survived,” Yip Ka-Kui told CBS, the BBC’s US partner. “But we know her. She wouldn’t have left without warning others.”
Back in Mr. Li’s apartment, the middle-aged couple disclosed that they had heard another voice in the corridor: a domestic worker calling out for an elderly woman. However, the voice had since fallen silent.
This time, Mr. Li felt unable to help.
“I feel very guilty,” he expressed. “Some people weren’t saved, and I didn’t open my door again to try and find them.”
Mr. Li remains uncertain about the fate of the voice in the corridor. Reports indicate that nine Indonesian and one Filipino domestic workers are among the deceased, while others survived – including Rhodora Alcaraz, 28, who was trapped in another apartment while caring for her employer’s three-month-old baby and elderly mother. She has also been lauded as a hero for remaining by their side.
All three were eventually rescued by firefighters, but not before Ms. Alcaraz had sent a series of voice messages to her sister.
“I’m feeling very weak. I can’t breathe,” she conveyed in one of the recordings, according to Reuters news agency.
Mr. Li and the couple – identified in local media as the Chows – realized that they, too, needed to evacuate. Several hours had passed, and their options were dwindling.
One fire exit was blocked by the flames, and Mr. Li’s neighbor believed the other was locked. They decided against jumping from the second-floor window due to the intensity of the fire and the recurring explosions.
ISS, a subsidiary of a Danish company and the property manager of Wang Fuk Court, has not addressed a BBC inquiry regarding reports that the emergency exit was locked.
“It was the first time I felt death had something to do with me,” Mr. Li recounted.
This realization prompted him to bid farewell to friends via WhatsApp: “I can’t escape,” he wrote. “If something happens to me, take care of my children. Look after yourselves.”
Approximately two and a half hours after the fire started, firefighters finally reached them using an aerial ladder. Mrs. Chow told HK01, a Hong Kong-based news outlet, that Mr. Li insisted the firefighters rescue them first. “We are older and told him he should leave first. He refused and said he was young and could handle this.”
When the firefighters returned for him, Mr. Li hesitated to leave his home, which held cherished memories and his treasured collections of photography equipment and toys.
“The fire was telling me that I couldn’t take anything away, that I had no right or power to stop it from devouring everything.”
Mr. Li was reunited with his family at a nearby fast-food restaurant.
However, it wasn’t until he arrived at the hospital in the early hours of the morning that the full extent of the horror he had endured truly hit him.
“I no longer had any strength in me, and when I got to the emergency room, my knees gave in. A burning smell lingered in my nose,” he recounted. “I really wanted to wash away the smell.”
After being admitted to a ward at 03:00, Mr. Li finally had the privacy to cry and begin processing the ordeal he had experienced.
“When I had been to the hospital before, I wanted to go home as soon as possible,” he said. “But this time, when the nurse asked me [if I wanted to go home], I wasn’t willing to leave. I felt like I was avoiding what I would have to face in the future.”
He has, however, decided to confront the trauma head-on by granting as many interviews as possible.
“I hope many people will come forward to help find the truth,” he stated. “I hope Wang Fuk Court residents will be given answers and justice.”
Additional reporting by Phoebe Kong and Grace Tsoi
Investigations continue into a fire last week at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, which killed at least 159 people.
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