HONG KONG — The death toll in Hong Kong’s apartment complex blaze rose to 146 on Sunday as investigators discovered more bodies in the burned-out buildings.
A steady stream of people placed bouquets of flowers at an ever-growing makeshift memorial at the scene of the disaster, among the worst in the city’s history.
The Hong Kong police Disaster Victim Identification Unit has been going through the buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex meticulously and has found bodies 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.”
So far the team has examined four of the seven blocks, Cheng said.
The latest searches turned up 30 more bodies, including 12 that had already been found by firefighters but hadn’t been recovered, said Tsang Shuk-yin, the head of the Hong Kong police casualty unit.
An additional 100 people are unaccounted for and 79 have been injured, Tsang said.
At the scene, well-wishers bowed and said short prayers or left handwritten notes among the flowers.
“This really serves as a wake-up call for everyone, especially with these super high-rise buildings,” said Lian Shuzheng, who waited in a line of hundreds of people to add her flowers to the growing cluster.
People have also donated supplies to those who lost everything in the blaze, which started Wednesday and took until Friday to fully extinguish.
The eight buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex in the suburb of Tai Po had all been covered in bamboo scaffolding draped with nylon netting for renovations, with windows covered by polystyrene panels. Authorities were investigating whether fire codes were violated.
Builder’s other projects are halted
Hong Kong officials announced late Saturday they had ordered the immediate suspension of work on 28 building projects undertaken by the same contractor, the Prestige Construction & Engineering Co., for safety audits.
“The five alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court, Tai Po, exposed serious deficiencies of PC&E in site safety management, including the extensive use of foam boards to block up windows during building repairs,” the government said in a statement.
The company did not answer calls for comment Sunday.
Three men — the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company — were arrested the day after the fire broke out on suspicion of manslaughter, and police said company leaders were suspected of gross negligence. Police did not identify the firm by name.
Those three were released on bail but then rearrested by Hong Kong’s anti-corruption authorities, who have also arrested eight others including scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consulting company and the renovation project managers.
In recent days, petitions have been started online calling for a proper investigation of what went wrong at the apartment complex.
But China’s national security authority also issued a warning Saturday, saying it would support Hong Kong in “taking a hard stance” against any “disruptive” actions linked to the disaster.
“We warn those anti-China elements … no matter what methods they use, they’ll be held accountable by the Hong Kong National Security Law and National Security Ordinance.”
Faulty fire alarms and foam panels
The apartment complex of eight 31-story buildings in Tai Po, a suburb near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China, was built in the 1980s. It had almost 2,000 apartments and more than 4,600 residents.
Many are now housed in short-term emergency shelters or city hotels, and authorities are working on longer-term solutions.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Jeffery Chan, a civil servant who came to pay his respects on Sunday.
“As a Hong Konger, seeing people in the place where we live lose their families, lose everything in just one night — if you put yourself in their shoes, it is unbearable. They need encouragement, support and help from the people of Hong Kong,” he said.
Preliminary investigations showed the fire started Wednesday afternoon on a lower-level scaffolding net of one of the buildings, and then spread rapidly inside as the foam panels caught fire and blew out windows, according to Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s secretary for security. Wind helped the flames jump from building to building, and soon seven of the eight were engulfed.
First responders found that some fire alarms in the complex, which housed many older people, did not sound when tested, according to Andy Yeung, the director of Hong Kong Fire Services.
The dead included seven Indonesian migrant workers, and several dozen are still unaccounted for, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said. One Filipina domestic helper was also killed and 12 others remain unaccounted for, according to the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong.
On Sunday afternoon, several hundred Filipinos packed a pedestrian street in central Hong Kong, saying prayers and singing hymns in tribute to the fire victims.
In Beijing, the Ministry of Emergency Management announced a nationwide inspection of high-rise buildings to identify and remove fire hazards.
“Bamboo scaffolding, non-flame-retardant safety nets … and firefighting facilities and equipment such as fire hydrant systems, automatic sprinkler systems and automatic fire alarm systems, will be among the main items to be inspected,” the ministry said.
The Wang Fuk Court fire is the worst on record since a warehouse blaze in 1948 killed 176 people.
The deadliest fire in Hong Kong’s recorded history was the 1918 Race Course Fire, in which more than 600 people were killed, according to the city’s Antiquities and Monuments Office.
Rising writes for the Associated Press. AP video journalist Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.
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