 "At least 65 killed, hundreds missing in Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades")
Hong Kong firefighters on Thursday brought a massive fire at an apartment complex under control after it claimed at least 65 lives and left hundreds of people unaccounted for. Police said the incident may have been caused by a construction company that acted “grossly negligently” by using unsafe materials.
“… the fire had claimed 65 lives and injured 70 people” by 8 pm local time (1200 GMT), a government spokesperson told AFP, citing fire service figures, adding that 10 firefighters had been injured since the fire broke out on Wednesday.
Rescue teams worked for more than 24 hours in intense heat and dense smoke after the blaze broke out, attempting to reach residents believed to be trapped on higher floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po, in the city’s northern area.
The complex, comprising eight closely built blocks with around 2,000 flats, is home to over 4,600 residents in a city already grappling with severe shortages of affordable homes.
Officials have begun examining what triggered the fire, including the use of bamboo scaffolding and plastic mesh around the buildings for ongoing construction.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency announced an inquiry into the renovation work, shortly after police detained three men on allegations of negligently leaving foam packaging at the site where the fire started.
Authorities said the flames in four of the eight blocks had been fully put out, while fires in three other buildings were under control. One block remained untouched by the blaze.
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View AllA distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said house 900 residents.
“She and her father are still not out yet,” sobbed the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng. “They didn’t have water to save our building."
On Thursday, police officers searched the building maintenance company responsible for the housing estate, seizing documents that mentioned it, media said. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” said police superintendent Eileen Chung.
Video images from the scene showed flames leaping from at least two of the 32-storey towers sheathed in green construction mesh and bamboo scaffolding.
Authorities said they had doused the flames in four of seven affected blocks, with those in the rest brought under control.
“We bought in this building more than 20 years ago,” said a 51-year-old resident surnamed Wan. “All of our belongings were in this building, and now that it has all burned like this, what’s left?"
Dozens in hospital
Another displaced resident, Wong Sik-kam, recalled how his son was one of the firefighters dispatched to the scene.
“My son called me and told me about the fire… I thought it was just a normal fire, like a kitchen accident that would be put out. Who knew it would get so bad?” Wong said.
Among the dead was a 37-year-old firefighter, who was found with burns on his face half an hour after losing contact with colleagues, according to the fire service director Andy Yeung.
A government spokesman told AFP that 61 people were being treated in hospital. Fifteen were in a critical condition, 27 in a serious condition and 19 were stable.
City leader Lee said in the early hours of Thursday that 279 were unaccounted for, though firefighters said later that they had established contact with some of those people. Authorities have not updated the figure since.
Lee said more than 900 people sought refuge at temporary shelters overnight.
The Indonesian consulate said around noon that two of the deceased were Indonesians working as migrant domestic workers.
A distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said house 900 residents.
“She and her father are still not out yet,” sobbed the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng. “They didn’t have water to save our building."
On Thursday, police officers searched the building maintenance company responsible for the housing estate, seizing documents that mentioned it, media said. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” said police superintendent Eileen Chung.
Video images from the scene showed flames leaping from at least two of the 32-storey towers sheathed in green construction mesh and bamboo scaffolding.
Authorities said they had doused the flames in four of seven affected blocks, with those in the rest brought under control.
“We bought in this building more than 20 years ago,” said a 51-year-old resident surnamed Wan. “All of our belongings were in this building, and now that it has all burned like this, what’s left?"
Three arrested
Police said in addition to the protective mesh and plastic coverings of the buildings, which may fall short of fire standards, they found foam material sealing some windows on one unaffected building, and installed by a construction company engaged in year-long maintenance work.
Police have arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of the company on suspicion of manslaughter over the fire, Chung added.
The estate has been under renovation for a year at a cost of HK$330 million ($42 million), with each unit contributing between HK$160,000 and HK$180,000, media said.
Hong Kong’s corruption body said it had launched an investigation into suspected graft related to the renovation.
A firefighter was among the dead, while dozens in hospital were in critical condition, authorities said on Thursday. About 279 people have yet to be traced.
Two Indonesian migrant workers “in the domestic sector” died in the fire and two others were injured, the Southeast Asian nation’s foreign ministry said.
The death toll is now the highest in a Hong Kong fire since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.
More than 1,200 firefighters are battling to control the flames, along with 304 fire engines and rescue vehicles.
“The priority is to extinguish the fire and rescue the residents who are trapped,” city leader John Lee told reporters, adding that support for the injured and recovery efforts would follow before a thorough investigation was launched.
With inputs from agencies
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