{"id":644873,"date":"2026-06-18T07:08:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:08:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644873\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T07:08:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T07:08:14","slug":"asteroid-named-to-honour-fallen-hong-kong-tower-block-blaze-firefighter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/644873\/","title":{"rendered":"Asteroid named to honour fallen Hong Kong tower block blaze firefighter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An asteroid discovered by a Hong Kong-born astronomer has been named after a firefighter who died battling an inferno at a housing complex in the financial hub that killed 168 people last year.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" src=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_6762-Copy-1050x700.jpg\" alt=\"A fire engine converted into a hearse carrying the casket of firefighter Ho Wai-ho, who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire, on December 19, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.\" class=\"wp-image-547886\"  \/>A fire engine converted into a hearse carrying the casket of firefighter Ho Wai-ho, who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire, on December 19, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ho Wai-ho, 37, died in the line of duty as the blaze engulfed several tower blocks at Wang Fuk Court in northern Hong Kong in November.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/support-hong-kong-free-press\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"728\" height=\"90\" alt=\"HKFP Promo\" class=\"wp-image-561002 perfmatters-lazy\" style=\"width:728px;height:auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HKFP-Promo.png\"  data-\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The minor planet, designated 34871, was discovered in 2001 by amateur astronomer William Yeung.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"700\" alt=\"Firefighters bury Ho Wai-ho, who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire, at Gallant Garden on December 19, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.\" class=\"wp-image-547925 perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/IMG_6794-Copy-1050x700.jpg\"  data-\/>Firefighters bury Ho Wai-ho, who died in the Wang Fuk Court fire, at Gallant Garden on December 19, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam\/HKFP.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ho \u201cserved with courage in fire and rescue operations, assisting in the evacuation of residents during emergencies\u201d, read the citation records on the International Astronomical Union\u2019s website.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ho\u2019s fiancee Kiki, whose surname is not known, said in a Tuesday social media post that the astronomer had shared the news with her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis asteroid may not be visible to the human eye, but the essence it represents is genuine and eternal,\u201d she said Yeung had told her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMr Ho Wai-ho\u2019s name will remain forever in the solar system,\u201d he had added.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Announcing the news, Kiki wrote: \u201cDearest 34871 Ho Wai-ho, as a star you will forever watch over us.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center has-background has-small-font-size wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"background-color:#edf7ff;padding-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-right:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-bottom:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20);padding-left:var(--wp--preset--spacing--20)\">Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by <a href=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/support-hong-kong-free-press\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">supporting our team<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"font-size:14px\"><a href=\"https:\/\/support.hongkongfp.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Support HKFP<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/hkfp-code-ethics\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Policies &amp; Ethics<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/hkfp-corrections-policy\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Error\/typo?<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/contact-us\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Contact<\/a>\u00a0 | \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hongkongfp.com\/newsletter\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Newsletter<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/annual-report\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Transparency &amp; Annual Report<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/apps\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Apps<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Make a one-off donation.\t\t<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.hongkongfreepress.app&amp;hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"331\" height=\"99\" alt=\"Google Play hkfp\" class=\"wp-image-524635 perfmatters-lazy\" style=\"width:231px;height:auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/App-Logo-Google-Play.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/hong-kong-free-press\/id1056188240\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\" noreferrer noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"331\" height=\"99\" alt=\"hkfp app Apple\" class=\"wp-image-524636 perfmatters-lazy\" style=\"width:231px\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/App-Logo-Apple.png\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hongkongfp.com\/support-hong-kong-free-press\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"195\" alt=\"hkfp payment methods\" class=\"wp-image-522448 perfmatters-lazy\" style=\"width:776px;height:auto\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Frame-2-1050x195.png\"  data-\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Youtube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753116373_697_hqdefault.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Youtube video\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/1753116373_99_hqdefault.jpg\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Dateline:<\/p>\n<p>Hong Kong,\u00a0China<\/p>\n<p>Type of Story: News Service<\/p>\n<p>Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to high journalistic standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An asteroid discovered by a Hong Kong-born astronomer has been named after a firefighter who died battling an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":644874,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[132666,217311,90,416,27444,56,54,55,217312],"class_list":["post-644873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-afp","tag-ho-wai-ho","tag-science","tag-space","tag-tai-po","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wang-fuk-court-fire"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=644873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/644873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=644873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=644873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=644873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}