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Transcript of Governor's media session
The following is the transcript of a media session given by the Governor, the Rt Hon Christopher Patten, after seeing family members of the Tsim Sha Tsui fire victims at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital this (Saturday) morning :
Governor: "I have made a statement earlier at the scene of the accident and I'll repeat what I said then. I think the whole community will be shocked by this further dreadful accident and I know that everyone will want to join me in offering our condolences and thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of all those who lost their lives. It's a terrible tragedy and our thoughts obviously go first to those bereaved. I want to thank the Fire Services for reacting so swiftly to this incident which is now being investigated by the police because I think you know there seems to be an extremely suspicious circumstances. Peter Lai, the Secretary for Security will be holding a press conference at 12 o'clock with other officials by which time we should know, perhaps a little more, about exactly what has happened. I've been to both the hospitals which have to cope once again with this sort of fire disaster and as ever they coped with great professionalism and sensitivity. It's a dreadful business and they handled it extremely well. Thank you very much.
End
SWD personnel assists fire victims
The Director of Social Welfare, Mr Andrew Leung Kin-pong, visited the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) earlier today (Saturday) to express concern to victims and family members affected by the Tsim Sha Tsui fire.
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Medical social workers at QEH are now liaising closely with their counterparts at Kwong Wah Hospital to assist those admitted to the hospitals and to follow up the families.
Departmental clinical psychologists have been deployed at both hospitals to provide counselling services to victims and distressed family members.
Meanwhile, SWD personnel will reach out to the family members of those deceased and those discharged from hospitals.