85% of insurance claims related to Tai Po fire settled, totalling HK$510 million

Around 85 per cent of insurance claims for damages caused by Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades have been settled, with the amount paid out totalling almost HK$510 million (US$65.3 million).The city’s Insurance Authority said on Tuesday that insurers had settled 1,032 claims related to the Tai Po fire that broke out last November, accounting for around 85 per cent of such claims.“The [authority] is aware that a majority of claims have been successfully settled based on the principle of treating customers fairly, and the remaining claims call for on-site inspections and damage assessments,” the regulator’s CEO, Clement Cheung Wan-ching, said.“We will continue to follow up actively with the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers.”The deadly blaze swept through seven of the eight blocks at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court last November, killing 168 people and displacing nearly 5,000 residents.Among the settled cases, 863 were general claims with a total value of HK$450 million, representing 84 per cent of all claims under this category.