The death toll from last week’s violent fire in a housing complex in Hong Kong rose to 151, local authorities reported this Monday, December 1st. “We cannot rule out the possibility of this number increasing further,” said Tsang Shuk-yin, a police representative, at a press conference. More than 40 people are still missing.
The “in-depth investigation” into the fire at the Wang Fuk Court complex, in Tai Po, one of the deadliest in the city, has already led to the arrest of 13 people – 12 men and one woman, aged between 40 and 77 – on suspicion of “culpable homicide”, revealed Chan Tung, director of Hong Kong’s criminal and security police, reports AFP.
In the investigation into the fire, which broke out last Wednesday, the bamboo scaffolding and polystyrene foam panels used in the renovation work on the eight towers of the housing complex, where around four thousand people lived, are being analyzed. They contributed to the rapid spread of the flames, according to authorities. It should be noted that seven of the eight buildings were affected by the deadliest fire in the city since 1948, when 176 people died in a fire that occurred in a warehouse.
The authorities informed the press that some of the external protective nets used on the scaffolding violated fire safety standards and that the complex’s fire alarms were not working properly.
According to Chief Secretary Eric Chan, cited by Reuters, the contractors responsible for the renovation works used inferior quality materials in areas that were difficult to access, hiding them from inspectors.
Searches of five of the housing complex’s eight apartment blocks have, however, been completed. “Some remains were reduced to ashes”, so it is possible that some of the people reported missing will not be found, Tsang Shuk-yin told reporters, visibly moved, according to Reuters.
During investigations in the towers devastated by the fire, the police found bodies of residents on stairs and roofs, places where they were trapped when trying to escape the flames.