Authorities probe corruption and negligence in Hong Kong’s deadliest hearth in a long time – Boston Information, Climate, Sports activities

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong’s deadliest hearth in a long time has raised questions on corruption and negligence within the renovations of the house advanced the place at the least 128 individuals died.

An intense hearth broke out at Wang Fuk Court docket advanced in Hong Kong’s northern suburbs Wednesday afternoon, with flames overlaying seven of the eight towers. The advanced was house to some 4,800 residents, a few of whom had raised security issues concerning the renovations greater than 12 months earlier than the fireplace.

Police on Wednesday arrested three males from a development 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 stated Saturday evening, pointing to their management position within the renovations. ICAC had additionally beforehand arrested seven males and one lady related to the venture.

Police haven’t recognized the corporate the place the suspects labored, however paperwork posted to the owners affiliation’s web site confirmed that the Status Building & Engineering Firm was in control of renovations. Police have seized containers of paperwork from the corporate, the place telephones rang unanswered Thursday.

Officers additionally stated they had been investigating the supplies used, each the netting on the scaffolding and the froth panels overlaying home windows, and their position within the blaze.

Residents discovered questions of safety a 12 months earlier than hearth

For nearly a 12 months, some residents on the Wang Fuk Court docket advanced had been elevating security issues to Hong Kong authorities concerning the scaffolding supplies getting used within the renovation venture, in response to paperwork reviewed by the AP, particularly concerning the netting that coated the scaffolding.

Hong Kong’s labor division in a press release on Saturday confirmed it had acquired such complaints, including that officers had carried out 16 inspections of Wang Fuk Court docket’s renovation venture since July 2024, and had warned contractors a number of occasions in writing that they have to guarantee they met hearth security necessities. Town even carried out an inspection as late as one week earlier than the fireplace.

The labor division stated it had reviewed the product high quality certificates of the netting and that it was consistent with requirements, however that the protection 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 hearth, stated Chris Tang, town’s secretary for safety. Police additionally stated they’d 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 stated.

The labor division stated afterward Saturday that three prosecutions had been introduced towards the corporate over breaches of security laws for working at top within the development and convictions in two of the instances resulted in fines of totaling 30,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($3,850). The corporate additionally was fined thrice in 2023 for separate violations unrelated to the Tai Po venture.

First responders additionally discovered that some hearth alarms within the advanced, which housed many older individuals, didn’t sound when examined, stated Andy Yeung, the director of Hong Kong Fireplace Providers. 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 underneath management, and it was not totally extinguished till Friday morning — some 40 hours after it began.

Crews prioritized residences from which they’d acquired 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 Fireplace Providers, informed 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.

Extra our bodies could also be discovered

Whereas extra our bodies is likely to be recovered, authorities stated, crews have completed their seek for anybody dwelling trapped inside.

Authorities stated Saturday they should determine 44 extra our bodies out of the 128 recovered. About 150 individuals stay unaccounted for.

The useless included two Indonesian migrant staff, the Indonesian international ministry stated Thursday. About 11 different migrants from the nation who had been working as home helpers within the house advanced stay lacking, Indonesian Consul Common Yul Edison stated Friday.

Close to the location 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 need them to know that dwelling on this world is one thing to be cherished,” she stated, holding again tears.

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 incorrect?” 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 a long time. A 1996 hearth in a business constructing in Kowloon killed 41 individuals. A warehouse hearth in 1948 killed 176 individuals, in response to the South China Morning Publish.

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Researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing and author David Rising in Hong Kong contributed to this report. Wu reported from Bangkok