Construction netting found at the site of a massive blaze that engulfed multiple high rises in Hong Kong did not meet fire safety standards, local anti-corruption officials said Monday. Those officials also accused contractors working at the buildings of deliberately concealing the substandard material before the fire by using patches of high quality netting in areas that would be accessible to safety inspectors.
The fire — Hong Kong’s worst in seven decades, according to the South China Morning Post — prompted a quick response from the local government, and mourning among the public for the 151 people killed in the blaze. Still, some who expressed criticism of the government in the aftermath of the tragedy were detained, according to reports in local media, including one student, Miles Kwan, 24, who was part of a group of activists circulating fliers calling for an independent investigation into the fire.
The cause of the fire, which began Wednesday and was subdued Friday, has not yet been determined. The blaze spread rapidly across seven of the eight towers that make up the Wang Fuk Court government-subsidized housing block, all of which were undergoing renovations, and surrounded by scaffolding adorned with green netting.
Tests conducted immediately after the blaze appeared to show that the netting had met safety standards, but subsequent testing cast doubt on those findings. On Monday, local officials revealed that seven out of 20 samples of the netting taken from the scene of the fire failed to meet flame-resistance standards.
“Samples which failed the requirements were found in spots difficult to reach,” said Eric Chan Kwok-ki, Hong Kong’s chief secretary for administration, in a news conference.
Danny Woo Ying-ming, head of Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption, said that according to the findings of a preliminary investigation, some of the netting surrounding the Wang Fuk Court buildings was damaged during a typhoon in July. Contractors working on the building bought cheap netting that did not meet fire safety requirements as a replacement.
Fearing a safety inspection, those contractors later purchased a much smaller amount of more expensive, higher grade material.
“These were used to wrap around the foot of the scaffolding, intending to pass off the substandard netting as fire resistant during subsequent checks,” said Woo.
The netting, along with flammable foam boards used during the renovations, likely exacerbated the spread of the fire, local officials said. On Friday, Chris Tang, the city’s secretary for security, noted that bamboo poles used in scaffolding had fallen during the fire, blocking the path for firefighters and their vehicles.
Police and the ICAC arrested 14 people in relation to the incident, 13 of whom were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. The Hong Kong Buildings Department also temporarily suspended 30 construction projects, 29 of which are linked to Prestige Construction & Engineering, the main firm overseeing renovations at Wang Fuk Court.
Lam Man-han, a regional commander in the Hong Kong police force, said that the search for victims was likely to conclude within three weeks.
“No matter what, police will continue to search the disaster site,” Lam said, adding that experts were seeking out personal belongings among the ash to enable victims’ families to identify the remains.
Numerous complaints had been lodged against the building in the past two years by residents. One resident, for example, was told by the Hong Kong Labor Department in October that the risk of the netting catching fire was “relatively low,” according to a Facebook post documenting the exchange.
Some residents later told local media that their fire alarms did not go off, noting that some of the building’s elderly residents may have been endangered by the lack of warning.
Christian Shepherd, Rudy Lu and Lyric Li contributed to this report.
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