Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has raised questions on corruption and negligence within the renovations of the condominium complicated the place no less than 128 individuals died.
An intense fireplace broke out at Wang Fuk Courtroom complicated in Hong Kong’s northern suburbs Wednesday afternoon, with flames overlaying seven of the eight towers. The complicated was dwelling to some 4,800 residents, a few of whom had raised security considerations in regards to the renovations greater than 12 months earlier than the fireplace.
Police on Wednesday arrested three males from a building firm on suspicion of manslaughter and gross negligence. They had been launched on bail however then arrested by the Unbiased Fee In opposition to Corruption, the authority mentioned Saturday evening, pointing to their management function within the renovations. ICAC had also previously arrested beforehand arrested seven males and one lady related to the challenge.
Police haven’t recognized the corporate the place the suspects labored, however paperwork posted to the householders affiliation’s web site confirmed that the Status Development & Engineering Firm was answerable for renovations. Police have seized bins of paperwork from the corporate, the place telephones rang unanswered Thursday.
Officers additionally mentioned they had been investigating the supplies used, each the netting on the scaffolding and the froth panels overlaying home windows, and their function within the blaze.
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Residents highlighted issues of safety a 12 months earlier than fireplace
For nearly a 12 months, some residents on the Wang Fuk Courtroom complicated had been elevating security considerations to Hong Kong authorities in regards to the scaffolding supplies getting used within the renovation challenge, in keeping with paperwork reviewed by the AP, particularly in regards to the netting that lined the scaffolding.
Hong Kong’s labor division in a press release on Saturday confirmed it had obtained such complaints, including that officers had carried out 16 inspections of Wang Fuk Courtroom’s renovation challenge since July 2024, and had warned contractors a number of instances in writing that they have to guarantee they met fireplace security necessities. Town even carried out an inspection as late as one week earlier than the fireplace.
The labor division mentioned it had reviewed the product high quality certificates of the netting and that it was consistent with requirements, however that the security netting had not been the earlier goal of inspections.
Preliminary investigations confirmed the fireplace began on a lower-level scaffolding web of one of many buildings. It then unfold quickly as the froth panels caught fireplace, mentioned Chris Tang, town’s secretary for safety. Police additionally mentioned that they had been wanting on the extremely flammable foam panels.
“The blaze ignited the froth panels, inflicting the glass to shatter and resulting in a swift intensification of the fireplace and its unfold into the inside areas,” Tang mentioned.
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The labor division mentioned in a while Saturday that three prosecutions had been introduced towards the corporate over breaches of security rules for working at peak within the building and convictions in two of the instances resulted in fines of totaling 30,000 Hong Kong {dollars}, or $3,850. The corporate additionally was fined thrice in 2023 for separate violations unrelated to the Tai Po challenge.
First responders additionally discovered that some fireplace alarms within the complicated, which housed many older individuals, didn’t sound when examined, mentioned Andy Yeung, the director of Hong Kong Hearth Companies. He didn’t specify what number of weren’t working or if any of the others had been.
Intense blaze took days to place out
It took firefighters a day to convey the fireplace beneath management, and it was not totally extinguished till Friday morning — some 40 hours after it began.
Crews prioritized residences from which that they had obtained emergency calls through the blaze however had been unable to achieve within the hours that the fireplace burned uncontrolled, Derek Armstrong Chan, a deputy director of Hong Kong Hearth Companies, advised reporters.
Twelve firefighters had been among the many 79 individuals injured within the blaze, and one firefighter was killed.
Even two days after the fireplace started, smoke continued to float out of the charred skeletons of the buildings from the occasional flare-up.
Chan Lengthy Hei / AP 
Extra our bodies could also be discovered
Whereas extra our bodies may be recovered, authorities mentioned, crews have completed their seek for anybody dwelling trapped inside.
Authorities mentioned Saturday they should determine 44 extra our bodies out of the 128 recovered. About 150 individuals stay unaccounted for.
The lifeless included two Indonesian migrant employees, the Indonesian international ministry mentioned Thursday. About 11 different migrants from the nation who had been working as home helpers within the condominium complicated stay lacking, Indonesian Consul Normal Yul Edison mentioned Friday.
Close to the positioning of the fireplace, Sara Yu held the hand of her 2-year-old son, Dominic, as they every positioned a single white rose right into a rising cluster of the flowers in a young children’s playground.
“I introduced the youngsters right here as a result of I would like them to grasp that dwelling on this world is one thing to be cherished,” she mentioned, holding again tears.
YAN ZHAO / AFP 
Exterior a constructing near the scene of the fireplace the place relations got here to determine family members from pictures, individuals positioned bouquets of white roses, lilies and carnations. “Greater than 128 harmless lives, what did they do fallacious?” requested an indication positioned among the many flowers.
Town lowered flags to half employees in mourning, and Chief Govt John Lee, led a three-minute silence Saturday from the federal government headquarters with officers all wearing black.
The hearth was the deadliest in Hong Kong in many years. A 1996 fireplace in a industrial constructing in Kowloon killed 41 individuals. A warehouse fireplace in 1948 killed 176 individuals, in keeping with the South China Morning Put up.
