‘Shameful’ suspects arrested over deadly Hong Kong fire that killed 156
Police have arrested 15 people on manslaughter charges after discovering “evil” suspects deliberately used substandard netting that fuelled Hong Kong's deadliest fire, killing at least 156 people.
Hong Kong’s leader said that an independent committee will investigate the causes of the city’s deadliest fire in decades, after authorities found substandard building materials had accelerated the blaze.
The fire engulfed seven residential towers under renovation in the north of the city last week, killing at least 156 people, displacing thousands more and fuelling public demands for accountability.
Of the 156 people confirmed to have died, 29 had yet to be identified, police told reporters on Tuesday. Another 30 people remained unaccounted for.
Police said they had arrested 15 people on suspicion of manslaughter, after an initial probe found that the netting used on exterior scaffolding fell short of fire-resistance standards.
The group included men and one women aged between 40 and 77.
Eric Chan, the city’s number two official, called them “shameful” and “cunning”, saying they had “acted with deliberate intent and planning”.
“I will establish an independent committee to conduct a comprehensive and in-depth review to reform the building work system and prevent similar tragedies from occurring in the future,” city leader John Lee told a news conference.
The committee will be led by a judge to ensure its independence and credibility, he said.
“The responsible culprits tried to mix up substandard nets with qualified nets so as to cheat inspection and law enforcement agencies,” Lee added, calling the suspects “evil”.
He told AFP that authorities had already identified several failures and pledged reforms to “the whole building renovation system to ensure that such things will not happen again”.
Lee added that the upcoming Legislative Council elections set for 7 December would go ahead, after rumours of cancellation.
The world’s deadliest residential building fire since 1980 broke out on Wednesday at the high-rises of Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.
Ten migrant domestic workers employed at Wang Fuk Court were among the dead, and three others were injured, Hong Kong’s labour and welfare chief Chris Sun said.
Families of the foreign victims would each receive around HK$800,000 (A$157,000) in compensation, he added.
Residents of the only block left unaffected would be allowed to return from Wednesday to collect belongings, government officials told reporters.
Near the wrecked towers, colourful notes bearing heartfelt messages in a subway tunnel were removed by Tuesday afternoon, but appeared on benches and lampposts nearby, AFP reporters saw.
A woman surnamed Leung, 30, wept as she wrote her condolences on a tiny note. “First of all, there must be an investigation into who must take responsibility, including government officials,” Leung told AFP.
But she was pessimistic about that happening under Beijing’s oversight. What people in Hong Kong have to say was “no longer important, because (the government) has a very strong backer”, she said.
Flames quickly covered the surfaces of the apartment blocks, which were wrapped with bamboo scaffolding, protective netting and foam boards as part of an estate-wide renovation that affected its nearly 2000 flats.
Officials announced that seven of the 20 samples of netting taken from four of the wrecked towers failed to meet fire safety standards.
“We now believe that the cause was likely that the safety netting fell short of fire-resistance standards, combined with the foam boards, that led to the severity of this fire,” security chief Chris Tang told a news conference.
He said the suspects had mixed in patches of substandard netting to save costs, and placed it “in locations where ordinary people could not easily gather a sample”.
Local media have reported that police have separately arrested three people for sedition, including 24-year-old student Miles Kwan, who had handed out flyers demanding government accountability over the fire.
Asked about the sedition arrests, Hong Kong security chief Chris Tang said there had been “inaccurate comments online” with the sole purpose of “threatening national security”.
“Therefore, we must take appropriate measures, including law enforcement measures. Operational details cannot be disclosed as they involve national security,” Tang said.
Kwan was seen leaving a police station on Monday afternoon, without commenting on his case or confirming if he had been formally arrested.
Former district councillor Kenneth Cheung was also taken by police, local media reported. He later said he had been released on bail.
Human Rights Watch urged the Hong Kong government on Tuesday to “ensure a transparent investigation and accountability”.
“It’s crucially important not to treat those demanding answers for the tragic fire as criminals,” the group’s Asia director Elaine Pearson said, adding that the disaster “raises serious concerns” over Beijing’s influence in Hong Kong.
Police said on Monday they had completed searches in five of the seven affected towers, and “couldn’t rule out the possibility” of the death toll rising further.
Police found the remains have been found inside apartment units, in hallways, and on staircases.
One Filipino national and nine Indonesian nationals have been killed, according to their respective consulates, with 30 Indonesians still unaccounted for.
Some families of victims returned to Wang Fuk Court on Monday to begin traditional funeral rites, which are expected to continue Tuesday.
As of Monday night, more than 1,900 households have signed up for the emergency cash subsidy of HK$10,000, while some 2400 people have made use of government emergency accommodation.
EERIE FIRST PHOTOS INSIDE TOWERS
The first pictures from inside the Hong Kong residential towers have emerged.
The haunting images show officers from Disaster Victim Identification Unit combing through the ashes of the high-rise buildings destroyed in the inferno at the Wang Fuk Court development in the Tai Po district.
Officers recovered additional bodies as they expanded their search into three more high-rises at the complex after the blaze.
The unit has been going through the buildings meticulously and has found bodies both in apartment units and on the roofs, said the officer in charge, Cheng Ka-chun.
The buildings remain structurally sound, but the search has been slow, he told reporters, still wearing his white coveralls with his hard hat and respiratory mask at his side.
“It is so dark inside, and because of the low light, it is very difficult to do the work, especially in places away from the windows.”
Hong Kong’s Buildings Department has ordered temporary suspension of works on 30 private building projects across the city.
HONG KONG MOURNS VICTIMS OF TOWER INFERNO
More than 1000 people from across the Chinese city flocked to the housing complex in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district to pay respects on Sunday, forming huge queues.
An outpouring of grief swept over Hong Kong as an official, three-day mourning period began with a moment of silence for the people killed in one of the city’s deadliest fires.
City leader John Lee, along with senior ministers and dozens of top civil servants, stood in silence for three minutes at 8am local time outside the government headquarters, where the flags of China and Hong Kong were flown at half-mast.
Hours before that, citizens placed flowers near the charred shell of Wang Fuk Court, the residential complex that burned for more than 40 hours.
Condolence points have been set up across Hong Kong for the public to sign condolence books, the government said
Flames moved quickly through the housing estate in Tai Po district last Wednesday afternoon, local time, spreading through seven of the eight high-rises and transforming the densely packed complex into an inferno.
The blaze was “largely extinguished” by Friday morning after burning for more than 40 hours, the fire services said, announcing they had finished their search of over 1800 flats for survivors.
‘ALARMS MALFUNCTIONING’
Authorities are investigating what sparked the fire, including examining the bamboo scaffolding and netting wrapped around the complex as part of a major renovation.
The Hong Kong government said it appeared the fire had started in protective netting on the lower floors of one of the towers and that foam boards and bamboo scaffolding had contributed to its spread.
Fire services chief Andy Yeung said earlier they had discovered that alarm systems in all eight blocks “were malfunctioning”.
“We will take enforcement actions against the contractors responsible,” Yeung told a press conference.
At the charred apartment blocks on Friday morning, local time, workers brought out bodies in black bags, with an AFP reporter counting four in one 15-minute period.
Vehicles unloaded corpses at a mortuary in nearby Sha Tin, another reporter saw, with families arriving in the afternoon for identification. Residents had recounted having to run door-to-door to alert neighbours to the danger.
FAMILIES IN DESPERATE SEARCH FOR LOVED ONES
Families scoured hospitals and victim identification stations hoping to find their loved ones.
A woman searching for her sister-in-law at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin was sobbing as she revealed that she had been to several hospitals and was now losing hope.
“My brother says if we can’t find the cat, there is no hope for finding her,” the woman said.
Another woman surnamed Wong was looking for her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law’s twin, with no luck.
“We still cannot find them. So we are going to different hospitals to ask if they have good news,” the 38-year-old told AFP in tears.
The last contact anyone had with the twins was on Wednesday afternoon, said Wong, around the time the fire was reported.
“One building went up in flames and it spread to two more blocks in less than 15 minutes,” a 77-year-old eyewitness surnamed Mui told AFP.
“It was very quick. It was burning red, I shudder to think about it.”
A survivor was found on the 16th floor of the Wang Tao Tower, one of the seven that went up in flames at 2.51pm local time on Wednesday.
BAMBOO SCAFFOLDING A FACTOR IN THE FIRE
The lack of fire alarms, as well as bamboo scaffolding, netting and flammable styrofoam materials used to cover windows during construction works on the tower where the fire started have been blamed as factors for the high death toll.
The incident raised concerns about building practices in Hong Kong, which has been under Chinese rule since 1997.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping demanded “all out efforts” to respond to the blaze.
The blaze at the Wang Fuk Court apartment towers in the north of Hong Kong took firefighters 16 hours to extinguish.
Hong Kong’s government has offered a $59 million rescue fund to help victims of the fire, which was unlikely to cover the cost of rebuilding the towers.
City authorities said they had opened nine shelters and were organising temporary accommodation and emergency funds for those who had lost their homes.
Activities around Hong Kong’s legislative elections, set to take place on December 7, have been suspended.
‘UP IN FLAMES’: HOME OF 40 YEARS LOST IN BLAZE
Wong Sik-kam lost his home of 40 years in the inferno.
“I thought it was just like a normal fire … it’s just a bit of a commotion and it’d be put out,” he said.
“But it turned out to be that big that the whole estate went up in flames.”
He warned that his son, a firefighter, said the elderly suffocated in their homes because they could not evacuate quickly.
“I told him (his firefighter son) to be careful because it’s been burning overnight, (I was) not sure if the structure would collapse,” he said.
The blaze was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people. Lethal blazes were once a regular scourge in densely populated Hong Kong, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, but improved safety measures have made them far less common.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body said it had launched a probe into renovation work at the complex, hours after police said they had arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site.
The Labour Department told AFP on Friday that it had conducted 16 inspections of the maintenance work at Wang Fuk Court since July 2024, the most recent on November 20, after which the department issued written warnings to remind the contractor to “implement appropriate fire prevention measures”.
Hong Kong authorities will immediately inspect all housing estates undergoing major work following the disaster, and will look into shifting construction sites to metal scaffolding in the longer term.
A “saddened” Pope Leo issued a statement sending “spiritual solidarity to all those suffering … especially the injured and the families who grieve”.
The number of lives lost is now more than the tragic Grenfell Tower fire in London, with survivors of the Hong Kong fire claiming that no fire alarms went off during the deadly blaze.
There are fears that the death toll could continue to rise.
— with AFP
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