The Cornwall Court Fire () was a building fire incident in Hong Kong. It began in a

nightclub A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

and

karaoke bar A is a type of karaoke establishment commonly found in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the United States and Canada. It originated in Japan, and is now popular worldwide, particularly in Asia. Karaoke boxes consist of multiple rooms contai ...

on the morning of Sunday 10 August 2008, taking the lives of four people, including two firefighters, and injuring a further 55 people.

Incident

The fire broke out at 09:20, in the nightclub on the mezzanine floor, and quickly engulfed the entire building, according to a preliminary investigation by firefighters. It was upgraded to a No. 4 alarm at 10:23 and a No. 5 at 12:16. More than 200 firefighters and 40 appliances from across Kowloon were dispatched to deal with the blaze. Many trapped residents were rescued. Cornwall Court is a 15-storey building on

Nathan Road Nathan Road is the main thoroughfare in Kowloon, Hong Kong, aligned south–north from Tsim Sha Tsui to Sham Shui Po. It is lined with shops and restaurants and throngs with visitors, and was known in the post–World War II years as the Golden ...

Mong Kok Mong Kok (also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK) is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. Mong Kok is one of the major shopping areas in Hong Kong. The area is characterised ...

, built in 1962.RTHK.
RTHK gbcode
" ''Cornwall Court Fire Tragedy; Bill Gates in Hong Kong; Shopaholics .'' Retrieved 28 September 2008. Its lower floors are occupied by a nightclub and shops while the upper floors are residential. The fire caused the complete closure of Nathan Road and the evacuation of residents from nearby buildings.

Victims

Two firefighters from

Fire Station __NOTOC__ A fire station (also called a fire house, fire hall, firemen's hall, or engine house) is a structure or other area for storing firefighting apparatuses such as fire engines and related vehicles, personal protective equipment, fire h ...

, Senior Fireman Siu Wing-fong, 46 years old with 24 years' experience, and Fireman Chan Siu-lung, 25 years old with one year of service, died from smoke inhalation on the top floor of the building while trying to reach trapped residents. Survivors reported that the two officers had given them their oxygen breathing apparatus even while continuing to carry the heavy cylinders. One of the two civilian victims was a 77-year-old woman, on the ninth floor, and the other was a female staff member at the nightclub, surnamed Man and aged 39, who had been asleep with colleagues. Her burned body was found in the nightclub after the fire was extinguished.

Aftermath

The fire was declared extinguished at 15:13, but the building remained closed pending an investigation into the cause of the fire. Residents were provided with temporary shelter in Mong Kok Community Centre, although some refused to leave their homes. The southbound side of Nathan Road was reopened by evening, the pedestrian walk outside Cornwall Court was blocked till 12 August.

References

External links

Inferno heroes mourned (The Standard)

Mong Kok inferno kills 4, injures 55 (SCMP)
{{coord, 22.3197, 114.1688, display=title Fires in Hong Kong 2008 in Hong Kong 2008 fires in Asia

Incident

Victims

Aftermath

See also

References

External links