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Aisyah Llewellyn

Suyitno first saw the news of a deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on social media last Wednesday afternoon.
Yet, despite the harrowing footage of the estate engulfed in billowing smoke and leaping flames, Suyitno, who lives in the Indonesian city of Malang in East Java and whose wife was working in Hong Kong as a domestic helper, was not immediately concerned.
He did not recognise the location as the workplace of his 39-year-old wife Erawati, who had been living on and off in the city since 2011.
What unfolded next was a surreal sequence of events that would haunt Suyitno’s family for the rest of their days.
At around 7pm, Erawati called her husband. “She told me that she was caught up in the incident,” Suyitno, 35, who only goes by one name, told This Week in Asia, recalling the last image of his wife on that video call.
“She asked me to forgive her, and to tell our family that she asked for their forgiveness too. She told me that she couldn’t breathe any more and that she thought she was not going to make it.”

Suyitno said Erawati was on the eighth floor of one of the buildings at Wang Fuk Court, although he was not sure which one. In total, seven bamboo-scaffolded blocks caught fire after flames from one building spread rapidly across netting and falling debris, morphing into a towering inferno.
The disaster would become the city’s worst fire in decades and claim more than 150 lives while leaving thousands homeless.
“When she called me, she said that the fire had started much earlier and was getting bigger, but that the family had not realised anything was wrong. She said the smoke alarms in the building did not go off,” Suyitno said.
“I felt a mixture of feelings, sad, angry, frustrated. There was absolutely nothing I could do. She was crying and holding the [employer’s] baby.”
Suyitno said Erawati lived with a couple in Hong Kong, their child and the infant’s grandparents. The father and grandfather were not in the building at the time, and Erawati said the younger man had been calling emergency services from outside.
There are reportedly more than 360,000 foreign domestic workers in Hong Kong, mostly women from countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.
On Monday, the Indonesian consulate confirmed that nine citizens had died in the fire at Wang Fuk Court while 36 remained unaccounted for. One domestic worker from the Philippines was also confirmed to have died in the fire.

Suyitno said Erawati first went to work in Hong Kong in 2011. There were few well-paying jobs available in Malang but, in 2017, she returned to Indonesia, with the couple marrying and later having a son named Doni.
Doni, who is now six, was two when Erawati went back to Hong Kong for work, coming home every two years to visit her family.
Suyitno worked as a casual labourer in Malang, sometimes as a farmer and sometimes as a long-distance truck driver. While Erawati did not want to leave Doni, it was also her dream to have her own business.
“She was planning to save up the capital to open her own shop so that she would never have to be far from us again.”
‘Smoke pouring in’
Suyitno said he had tried to give his wife helpful advice over their terrifying call, urging her to place a wet towel over her nose and mouth to avoid excessive smoke intake.
“But she told me that the water was no longer working in the building. The only thing she could find was a face mask, which she stuffed with wet wipes,” he said. “I still hoped she would be safe. She said that they couldn’t see any flames and that the fire had not reached them, but that there was smoke pouring in.”
The call ended when the line suddenly disconnected. Suyitno said he called back repeatedly but it just “rang and rang”.
“I think she probably passed out from the smoke,” he said.


On Thursday, Suyitno got a call from Erawati’s employment agent, saying that they suspected she was among the dead in the fire. He was then contacted by the Indonesian consulate in Hong Kong, confirming the news.
“I refused to believe it,” he said.
He asked for a photograph, adamant that he would not accept it without evidence, and his worst fears were realised. “It was my wife.”
Erawati was the main breadwinner, according to her husband, who added that the family’s future was uncertain. Suyitno said he had received several emails from advocacy groups in Hong Kong, including the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, who were trying to apply for compensation on the family’s behalf.
The Support Fund for Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, established by the Hong Kong government, has reached around HK$1.6 billion (US$205.4 million), according to a government statement on Monday.
On Tuesday, Labour and Welfare Secretary Chris Sun said the families of foreign domestic helpers who died in the fire would receive nearly HK$800,000 from the government.
Suyitno said while he was aware of the financial relief efforts for those in Hong Kong, he did not want anything or to hold anyone in particular responsible for the fire at this time. “Let them do a full investigation, and I will follow the recommendations that come out of that,” he said.
The Indonesian consulate has indicated it would pay all costs of repatriation for citizens who were victims of the fire, although Suyitno said he did not yet know when his wife’s body would arrive back in Malang.

He also revealed he heard through unofficial channels from Indonesian migrant worker groups in Hong Kong that the child Erawati had been cradling in her arms before she died had survived the blaze, but was in hospital “in a critical condition”.
“I don’t know about anyone else in the flat,” he said.
Following reports of Erawati’s death, there was also an outpouring of grief on Indonesian social media, in part fuelled by the country’s migrant worker groups in Hong Kong and heightened media interest back home.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the death toll from the fire stood at 156, with around 30 people still unaccounted for. Over the weekend, thousands in Hong Kong showed up to pay their respects for the dead at a memorial near the site, as the city observed a three-day mourning period from Saturday.
As for Suyitno, he did not tell little Doni about Erawati’s death at first, but eventually had to explain it to the child after family members and concerned friends and neighbours started visiting their home.
“I don’t know if he really understands. They were very close and she would phone him about three times a day,” he said.
“Now he keeps asking, ‘Why doesn’t mummy call me any more?’”


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Indonesian helper’s last call to husband in Hong Kong fire: ‘she asked me to forgive her’

Erawati with her husband, Suyitno, and son, Doni. Photo: Suyitno

Flowers are seen next to the buildings at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Tuesday after last week’s deadly fire. Photo: Reuters

Indonesian nationals take part in a prayer session for victims of last week’s fire at Hong Kong’s Victoria Park on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Search operations continue at Wang Fuk Court on Monday. Photo: Kyodo

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A Indian naval officer walks past a BrahMos weapon systems during a rehearsal for a Republic Day parade in New Delhi, India, on January 20. Photo: Reuters

Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh (right) shakes hands with his Indonesian counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin before the third India-Indonesia Defence Ministers Dialogue in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Vietnam’s Defence Minister Phan Van Giang (left) welcomes Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh to Hanoi in 2022. Photo: AFP

A visitor looks at a BrahMos missile display at a defence expo on the outskirts of Chennai, India, in 2018. Photo: AFP

Portraits of courage: domestic helpers who stayed with their wards during Hong Kong fire

Domestic helpers have lost friends and been displaced along with their employers. Photo: Eugene Lee

Pita Hari says one of her friends is missing. Photo: Ambrose Li

Mercy Martinez managed to escape with her 95-year-old employer. Photo: Matthew Cheng

Groups warn of bogus donation calls exploiting helpers’ deaths in Hong Kong fire

Domestic helpers mourn victims of the Tai Po fire at a prayer gathering in Central. Photo: Jonathan Wong

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Domestic helpers say prayers at their usual Sunday gathering spot on Chater Road in Central. Photo: Jonathan Wong

‘She kept crying for me to rescue her’: victims’ families mourn fallen in Hong Kong

A dead body is lifted into a vehicle outside Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. Photo: Elson Li

Members of the Disaster Victim Identification Unit enter Wang Cheong House at Wang Fuk Court. Photo: Elson Li

People weep after identifying their deceased relatives outside the Kwong Fuk Community Hall at Kwong Fuk Estate. Photo: Sam Tsang

People identify deceased relatives at the Kwong Fuk Community Hall. Photo: Eugene Lee

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Erawati leaves behind a six-year-old son who cannot understand why ‘mummy doesn’t call any more’


Erawati leaves behind a six-year-old son who cannot understand why ‘mummy doesn’t call any more’.


Indonesian helper’s last call to husband in Hong Kong fire: ‘she asked me to forgive her’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Erawati leaves behind a six-year-old son who cannot understand why ‘mummy doesn’t call any more’

Erawati leaves behind a six-year-old son who cannot understand why ‘mummy doesn’t call any more’