victims were made during which Fire Service personnel barely escaped being buried alive by several further major collapses.
139. In face of the increasing danger several lengths of 24" diameter piping were requisitioned from the Water Authority with the object of driving a tunnel through to the victims. Unfortunately before a bridgehead for this operation could be established a further major collapse occurred from which again rescuers escaped with only super- ficial cuts.
140. Buildings Ordinance officers who had been called to the scene advised against a resumption of operations from within the building which was in imminent danger of total collapse, which would bring down with it a row of four others.
141. The 4-storey building involved was part of a block measuring some 200 × 600 feet of pre-World War I construction. The whole arca was a virtual rabbit warren with numerous dead-end narrow passage- ways. The block had been constructed on sloping ground and detailed inspections and colligations were necessary before one could determine the relativity between the floors of one building and another.
142. During the course of inspections of the site generally the first- attending officer, one of our most outstanding Chinese officers, with extensive experience of old Chinese buildings, located in a narrow passageway an area of wall which if cut away would produce a fair possibility of reaching the entombed victims. As a result, teams were organized to commence cutting by hammer and chisel through this wall initially estimated at 3 feet in thickness, and constructed of a mixture of granite blocks and clay bricks. Power drills were available but the Buildings Ordinance officers strongly advised against their use. After nearly six hours work in appallingly humid conditions with officers and men stripped to the waist and in pouring rain a hole 2 feet square and more than 6 feet in depth was cut through two walls and one of the victims located which made possible an examination by a Medical Officer, who certified that the victim was dead.
143. On numerous occasions during these operations Buildings Ordinance officers under the supervision of their Head of Department advised against further cutting of the structure predicting a major collapse at any moment. Notwithstanding this these officers not only remained on site but applied their technical skill in shoring up the walls as Fire Service personnel cut more deeply into them. By midnight
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