-
18 -
Transcript of the Chief Secretary's media session
The following is the transcript of the media session given by the Chief Secretary, Mrs Anson Chan, after seeing the injured persons and relatives of the deceased at Queen Elizabeth Hospital this (Thursday) morning:
Question: Could you just explain what the latest situation is?
Chief Secretary: First of all, I would say that we all deeply affected by this fire which affected so many people, particularly I would like to extend my sympathy to the deceased families. I have also just been to the scene of the fire to understand the current situation. The Director of Fire Services has now established two working groups, particularly to investigate the reasons for the fire and in particular why the fire spread so very, very quickly and affected so many people. I also just now visit those who have been affected by smoke inhalation or otherwise affected by this fire. Fortunately, the doctors tell me that of the 34 currently in this hospital, 20 can expect to be discharged from hospital by the week's end. There will be only 10 for need to remain for slightly longer. The other 30 who are in Kwang Wah Hospital are fortunately affected to a lesser extend. I hope they will make a very, very speedy recovery. Of course, we will on the basis of the findings, even preliminary findings from the two working groups, we will be in particular wishing to establish what lessons can be learnt from this. I've also been very concerned for those families whose loved ones are currently situation are still unknown. We will be providing relevant information as soon as possible.
Question: Can you explain how in 1996 with Hong Kong as developed city as it is. how a tragedy like this can still happen, while the fire regulations couldn't stop something like this?
Chief Secretary: I have to say I cannot explain this at the moment, but this is clearly an area that we will be following of very quickly and in great depth. We want particularly to know what lessons can be learnt from this, if the law is inadequate. what can be done. We know particularly that this building was a pre-1973 building, that is not caught by existing legislation. So clearly one of the areas that we will be looking at is the need to enforce the statutory conditions, but also whether in the mean time, other steps can be taken to prevent the recurrence of this tragedy
End
Page 20Page 21