Family members of a Hong Kong volunteer who died while trying to save others in the powerful earthquake that struck a Tibetan prefecture in Qinghai will arrive in the disaster zone today to collect his remains.

Wong Fuk-wing, 46, escaped from the quake unscathed but he returned to the orphanage where he worked as a volunteer to try to save orphans and teachers trapped inside.

Wong pulled out three children and a teacher before being critically injured by falling debris in a powerful aftershock while trying to save two other teachers from the toppled buildings.

His heroic deed was widely reported by mainland and Hong Kong media and many people left messages in online forums paying respect to the quake hero.

Chief Secretary Henry Tang Ying-yen said yesterday that Wong's selfless sacrifice deserved the "highest respect" and expressed condolences to his family. Tang said the Hong Kong government office in Beijing would help Wong's family to bring his remains back.

Wong's brother and brother-in-law arrived in Xining yesterday and were greeted by mainland and Hong Kong officials at the airport.

Wong Fuk-wah, the brother, declined to comment upon arrival, saying he would talk to the media after returning to Hong Kong.

A mainland official said they would arrange two sport utility vehicles to take Wong's relatives and friends to the Yushu Tibetan autonomous prefecture today

"We are not sure how long it will take to complete the whole process [identifying the body]," the official said. He said it could take some time as access between Yushu and the outside world had been severely curtailed.

The body will be taken back to Xining for cremation before the family takes Wong's remains home.

Wong, who was single, is survived by three sisters, a brother and his mother, who is in her 80s.

Many of his friends and fellow volunteer workers at the Ci Xing Xi Yuan Hui orphanage yesterday warmly recalled Wong, who had devoted much of his life to charity work in Hong Kong and on the mainland.

A diabetes and tuberculosis patient, Wong had never let his personal illness get in the way of his volunteer work.

"He used to comfort us and told us not to worry about his health. He kept saying that it's important to put goodwill into practice," Lily, a volunteer of the orphanage, said yesterday.

Another friend recalled that Wong also volunteered to work in the disaster zone after the Sichuan earthquake in 2008.

"He said he could no longer sit idle and watch the tragedy on TV and cry, so he went to Sichuan to do his bit," the friend said. He volunteered as a truck driver and the provincial Civil Affairs Bureau was so impressed, it awarded Wong with an honorary certificate in June that year.

Wong, who ran a cross-border transport company, had been doing charity and volunteer work for more than a decade.

In 2002, he spent three months on a charity walk from Hong Kong to Beijing, raising more than 200,000 yuan for the China Red Cross by himself. The money went to help treat leukaemia patients on the mainland and in Hong Kong.