Liam Hockings is missing after the fire at the Wellington hostel Loafers Lodge in Newtown on May 16, 2023. Photo / Facebook
One of the people missing after the deadly hostel fire in Wellington yesterday is the brother of a BBC presenter.
Liam Hockings is still unaccounted for following a fatal blaze which began at Loafers Lodge in Newtown in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Stuff reported.
Liam Hockings, 50, was still missing, a member of his extended family confirmed to Stuff.
He has previously trained as a journalist and also received a bachelor of social sciences majoring in politics.
Stuff reported he met now-Prime Minister Chris Hipkins during his time at university, with the pair joining other activists to rally against the privatisation of education in 1997.
The Militant reported in 1997 that thousands of university students took to the streets to protest the rising cost of tertiary education and proposals for its further privatisation.
The protests were based in Auckland and Wellington, and prompted a forceful police response, with batons being used against protesters.
Hockings also worked at the New Zealand Union of Students’ Associations after he graduated, Stuff said.
He was also living with a neurological condition that caused him memory problems and struggles with organisation. The condition, hydrocephalus, is a spinal cyst on the brain needing to be drained by a shunt, Stuff said.
Hockings is also an active member of the Facebook page Kiwi Journalists Association.
His sister, Lucy Hockings, is a New Zealand news presenter for the BBC, and previously worked for TVNZ.
Members of his extended family declined to comment to the Herald on Wednesday morning.
A friend told the Herald he knew Hockings from school.
“He is a beautiful person that despite any challenges is always pleasant and spreading joy. That is all I really want to say,” he said.
Hockings is one of the 11 people police said were unaccounted for last night. Six people have been confirmed dead though they have not all been identified.
Police were set to enter the hostel today and begin their on-scene investigation.
Officials including police, Chief Coroner Judge Anna Tutton and Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau gave an update yesterday afternoon.
“At this stage, we have located six people. We’ve ensured the evidence and scene around them has been made safe,” Fire and Emergency NZ said.
“We won’t know how those people perished until we work with police and our fire investigators to determine it with the Coroner.”
The Fire and Emergency spokesperson said the fire was being treated as suspicious.
However, Acting District Commander for Wellington Dion Bennett said police “don’t believe it’s been deliberately lit”.
“We require a full investigation.”
A selection of cartoons from Herald cartoonist Rod Emmerson over the past year