The China Mail - Photos, clothes, ashes: Hongkongers pick through fire-ravaged homes

The world's deadliest residential building fire since 1980 killed 168 people when it ripped through seven of the eight apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court complex in November.

For the first time since then, around 6,000 residents are being given three-hour windows starting this week to enter their homes and get their belongings.

"The feeling was pretty intense, because the places where I had walked down that day are all black now," Tse, who escaped from her third-floor flat, told reporters after the visit.

"I saw that the neighbours' flats were all severely burnt on the inside."

Residents wore hard hats, masks and gloves and were accompanied by social workers as they returned to their apartments on Thursday.

"I thought about that day," Tse said, breaking into tears.

"I thought I could go down to find out what was happening and go back up to warn the neighbours, but the fire was already so big."

"There were no fire alarms, a lot of people didn't know."

An independent committee investigating the blaze heard that fire alarms in seven of the estate's eight blocks had been turned off on the day of the fire.

Tse's husband Bowie Chan told AFP that his wife was diagnosed with depression after the fire, and still battles feelings of guilt that she was not able to warn her neighbours.

Videos and photos sent to AFP by Chan from their flat, near where the fire was believed to have started, showed charred husks of appliances and black soot clinging to walls, ceilings and piles of neatly stacked clothes in the wardrobe.

The plastic shower door hung in melted ribbons from its frame, while the blades of a fan had curled up.

But a framed wedding photo of the couple holding their four cats remained on the living room wall with no apparent damage.

"It was really hard for me to imagine what it was like for the neighbours to wait there," Tse said.

- 'Don't want to say goodbye' -

More than 920 homes were damaged and some completely destroyed by the blaze, according to the fire department.

Hong Kong officials have offered to buy the apartments back around the pre-fire market price, but said that rebuilding the complex on the same site was "not feasible".

Another resident, Jason Kong, criticised the three-hour time slot that residents were given to visit their homes and said he only managed to pack up a small amount of belongings.

He shared footage with reporters that showed his flat and personal items largely intact -- though a large shelf covering a wall in the living room had been damaged by the heat and was leaning precariously.

"I have a connection to the whole flat," the 65-year-old told reporters.

"I don't want to say goodbye. It would be best if they could fix it for me."

The interior design company owner said his family managed to retrieve graduation certificates, family photos and birth certificates from inside.

But Kong is haunted by the fact he had been unable to return to his tower to save his dog, Bear Bear, on the day of the fire.

The poodle was picked up by firefighters but died of smoke inhalation hours later.

"My son was most emotional when he saw the dog's food, his bowl," Kong said, adding that his son had collected some of Bear Bear's items as mementos.

Meanwhile, Bowie Chan showed reporters two urns that he had found at the flat containing the ashes of cats, Billy and Charlie, who died of old age before the fire.

"I really wanted to take them away, because we're a family," he said.

"My wife escaped with our two [other] cats, so that's already the best thing. Whatever we can save today is a bonus."

V.Liu--ThChM