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Yesterday, six people were trapped for five hours in a Wai Chai office building. My mother and I were two of them. This was really an unbelievable and unbearable experience and it was why this incident hogs the headlines of many newspapers. It all began when we went to a clinic there…
As all of us know, yesterday was a public holiday. Only a few offices were opened but the clinic where we went was one of them. We went there at about eleven to get my mother's health report. When we just got it and were about to leave, the electricity went off unexpectedly. We (including the doctor, two nurses, one patient, my mother and me) knew that the lifts could not function so we used the two torches from the clinic to find out way to the fire exits. But they were locked! It was a staggering fact but we finally managed to call the police calmly.
We sat in the clinic to wait for the rescuing team. I thought we only needed to wait for about fifteen minutes originally. However, we waited for several hours and still could not see any people come. The efficiency of the rescuing team was disappointing and we were all very hungry. But apart from waiting, we could not do anything else.
After about five hours, the rescuers finally arrived and rescued us. We knew we were the only six who were trapped in the building. The firemen then apologized for their lateness and explained that was due to traffic congestion, and difficulty in opening the fire exit.
We did not blame the firemen. Nevertheless, it is not difficult to conjure up a picture of heavy casualties if it was a fire accident. The Fire Services, of course, needs to find ways to improve its rescuing efficiency. Moreover, the contributory factor of this accident was the negligence of the building owner and the security guards who locked the fire exits carelessly. It is essential that the building owner should keep a close watch on the building's facilities and hire people to repair them when needed. The management should also make step-up efforts to keep adverse effects to a minimum.