At least 83 killed, hundreds still missing as major fire rips through Hong Kong housing complex
Two directors and an engineering consultant for a construction company were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, with 83 people dead and hundreds missing after bamboo scaffolding caught fire.
Hong Kong police have arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter following a high-rise blaze that killed at least 83 people, with hundreds still missing.
It was the city’s deadliest fire in more than 60 years with flames still visible in some of the estate’s almost 2000 units well over 24 hours after the fire broke out.
Police said the three men arrested, aged between 52 and 68, worked at a construction company involved in a renovation of the apartment project in Tai Po, a residential area in the New Territories in the northern part of Hong Kong, near the border with mainland China.
Authorities on Friday morning AEDT said the death toll had risen to 83, and included a 37-year-old firefighter and two Indonesians working as migrant domestic workers.
Police Senior Superintendent Eileen Chung Lai-yee said officers had found foam, protective nets, waterproof tarpaulin and plastic cloths that appeared to fall below the city’s fire safety standards.
“Police have reason to believe that the company’s responsible persons were grossly negligent, which led to the incident and caused the fire to spread rapidly, resulting in serious casualties,” she said on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security, Chris Tang, said preliminary investigations found the rapid spread of the fire was “unusual”, with the use of styrofoam to seal windows exacerbating the situation.
“We have found that on the relevant building walls, the netting and waterproof tarpaulin material, once burned, showed spreading of the flames faster than [they should on] regulated materials,” Mr Tang said.
Officials have not yet established how the fire began.
Multiple residents who spent the night in a packed temporary shelter at Tung Cheong Street Sports Centre said they had made repeated complaints about builders smoking at the construction site.
Kiko Ma told the BBC her apartment window had been sealed for more than a year as part of the renovation works.
“People kept asking what would happen if there was a fire. Everyone was very worried about this,” said Ms Ma, 33.
She said some fire alarms at apartment complex had been turned off during renovation and that construction workers regularly used fire escapes to go in and out of the building.
“This was preventable. This was not an accident. A lot of people did not do their duties,” Ms Ma said.
The fire shocked the Chinese financial hub, which has some of the world’s most densely populated and tallest apartment blocks, most of which look similar to the charred towers. The blaze is the most deadly in Hong Kong since an inferno in 1962 in the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood, which killed 44 people after beginning in a shop selling incense sticks.
Many relatives of the injured and deceased gathered in Hong Kong’s Prince of Wales Hospital on Thursday to look for their loved ones.
“I’m so worried that they are still in the house,” a 76-year old retired construction worker told the South China Morning Post.
He said his 80-year-old brother had died in the fire and his body had been recovered, but his sister-in-law and nephew were missing.
“We don’t know whether we should do [the funeral] for one or for three,” he said, clutching a tissue.
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed condolences to a firefighter who died and extended sympathies to the families of the victims. He also called for “all-out efforts” to minimise casualties and losses. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was one of many international leaders sharing his sympathies.
“My heart goes out to the people who’ve lost their lives and the people who are searching and concerned about loved ones,” the Australian Prime Minister said.
“This has been a human tragedy, and the hearts of all Australians today will be thinking of the people of Hong Kong.”
Almost 900 people were evacuated after the blaze spread across seven high-rise apartment buildings. Hong Kong officials late on Thursday said 16 people were in critical condition in hospital, with the toll expected to rise further.
The fire, which began on Wednesday afternoon and was spread by strong winds, was still burning on Thursday morning as authorities confirmed one of the dead was a firefighter, Ho Wai-ho, one of the first to respond to the blaze.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee praised the “gallantry and selfless devotion to duty” of the 37-year-old firefighter.
Mr Lee also announced a suspension of all campaigning ahead of Hong Kong’s Legislative Council elections on December 7.
“The top priority is to put out the fire and rescue trapped residents. The second task is to treat the wounded, the third is to handle the aftermath, and then we’ll undergo a comprehensive investigation,” Mr Lee said.
Fire chiefs said temperatures at the scene made it difficult for crews to mount rescue operations, but throughout Thursday people were brought from the still smouldering complex.
Huge flames first took hold on bamboo scaffolding on several apartment blocks of Wang Fuk Court, which contains nearly 2000 units in eight towers.
Bamboo scaffolding has been used in construction in Hong Kong for centuries and remains a common sight on the city’s building and renovation projects. The Hong Kong government said earlier this year that it would start phasing bamboo out for public projects because of safety concerns.
Gary Au Gar-hoe, spokesman for the fire engineering division of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers, told local media that bamboo scaffolding could still catch fire even with fire retardant applied, while radiant heat could cause neighbouring buildings to ignite as well.
“If large swathes of flames had landed on a building opposite, while combustible materials like newspaper, wood and paint were nearby, it would cause the level of fire seen today,” Mr Au said.
Almost 5000 people lived in the eight-building complex, more than a third of them over 65 years old.
Multiple buildings close to each other were set ablaze, with flames and smoke shooting out of windows as night fell. Authorities said that hundreds of firefighters, police officers and paramedics were deployed.
Officials said the fire started on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings, a 32-storey tower, and later spread to inside the building and also to nearby towers.
Many residents watched on from outside as their apartments burned. “I’ve given up thinking about my property,” a resident who provided only her surname, Wu, told local TV station TVB. “Watching it burn like that was really frustrating.”
Additional reporting: AP
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