A senior Housing Bureau surveyor has told the Wang Fuk Court fire inquiry that he thought unauthorised openings in staircases at the estate were nothing more than broken windows.

The inquiry earlier heard that unauthorised openings in staircases turned escape routes into death traps at the Tai Po residential estate when the deadly inferno broke out last November. Thick smoke poured through and many residents could not escape.

The inquiry has also been told that unauthorised openings allowed renovation workers to enter the building from the outer wall.

Senior maintenance surveyor Yung Siu-lun from the Housing Bureau, who was responsible for approving documents to ensure the works follow regulations, told Thursday's hearing that from the photos he'd seen, he thought the stairwell windows were simply damaged.

The independent committee's senior counsel, Victor Dawes, challenged the explanation.

He pointed to the photos showing openings on every five floors of the stairwell, asking if it was possible that windows were damaged on every five floors.

Dawes said if Yung, as a professional, could not spot the problem, then residents could not be expected to notice it either.

Yung replied that he would have noticed the issue if he had gone to the site in person.


Edited by Edmond Fong