HONG KONG, China (AFP) — It has been two days since Fung lost contact with his mother-in-law, when the Hong Kong housing estate where the elderly woman lived went up in flames — but he has not given up on bringing her home.

The raging fire at Wang Fuk Court claimed at least 128 lives in what was the world’s deadliest residential building fire since 1980, and authorities said Friday the status of around 200 people remained “unclear”.

Fung is among those engaged in an increasingly desperate search for missing loved ones, which took him to a victim identification station where he and his wife sifted through photos of the dead.

“It is very tormenting as I have to look at… things I do not want to see,” Fung told AFP.

After two fruitless visits to the station, the couple went to the Prince of Wales Hospital on Friday only to learn that no public hospital had admitted the elderly woman.

Fung last spoke to her at noon on the day of the fire, but another phone call three hours later went unanswered.

With the fire largely extinguished on Friday, Fung asked the police whether officers had entered the flat in question, which was in the first of seven high-rises that burned.

“They simply answered, ‘I understand, but I have no idea’. I have heard the same thing 20 to 30 times today,” he said, adding that nobody had information about his mother-in-law.

Giving up was not an option for Fung, especially after his seven-year-old niece asked where her grandmother went.

– ‘Miserable and bleak’ –

At the hospital, a woman surnamed Wong broke into tears after failing to find her sister-in-law Tina and Tina’s twin sister, who went missing around the time the fire started on Wednesday.

“We cannot find them. We are going to different hospitals to ask if they have good news,” said Wong, 38.

Jan Yeung, 46, said she found a photo of her 70-year-old mother being loaded onto a stretcher in a news report but could not locate her in any public hospital — after having called every single one.

“We cannot find her at all. No one has notified us of anything,” Yeung said, adding that her sister was also among those unaccounted for.

Around a 15-minute drive from the Prince of Wales Hospital, a grim scene played out as those who had lost family members went to a public mortuary to identify the bodies.

At the car park, staff unloaded dozens of bodies sealed in black bags before grieving relatives arrived by shuttle bus.

Fay Siu, who leads the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims, offered emotional support to families at the mortuary, where she said the atmosphere was “miserable and bleak”.

The government must “develop plans and prepare mentally for the short-, medium- and long-term to determine how to provide comprehensive assistance” to those dealing with traumatic losses, Siu told AFP outside the building.

“Some have lost family members… They need to handle funeral arrangements immediately and cope with their emotions at the same time.”