Hong Kong’s anti-graft body yesterday said it had arrested eight people in connection with a fire that ripped through a high-rise apartment complex killing at least 128 people with 200 still missing in the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years.
Authorities said they had concluded rescue operations at the Wang Fuk Court complex in the northern district of Tai Po, but warned the death toll may still rise.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption also said it had launched a task force to investigate possible corruption in the renovation project at the complex, after police arrested three people on Thursday.
The fire in the Wang Fuk Court development started on Wednesday afternoon and rapidly engulfed seven of the eight 32-storey blocks in the complex.
“We do not rule out the possibility that more bodies could be discovered when police enter the building for detailed investigations,” Hong Kong Security Chief Chris Tang told a Press conference. Tang also said fire alarms in the complex had not been working properly. The estate housing more than 4,600 people had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh for the renovations.
Rescue efforts had now been concluded and at least 79 people, including 12 firemen were injured, he said.
Yesterday, dozens gathered at the scene with mourners laying flower tributes in front of the charred and smouldering buildings, while distressed residents, many of them elderly, surveyed the remains of their homes.
“This is my home. Look over there, the 10th floor, that’s where my home was. By the hills, that’s where my home used to be,” one resident, identified only as Miss Yu, said.
“I really want to go back home, but my home is probably gone now. They won’t let us go back, so when I look in that direction, my heart feels so heavy.”
Families meanwhile had the grim task of looking at photographs of the dead taken by rescue workers. Security Chief Tang said only 39 of the 128 dead had been identified.
Mirra Wong, whose parents were living in Wang Fuk Court, was looking for news of her father. “Just recognise some picture is maybe (the) body of my dad. It’s my dad’s body is still missing here,” said Wong, 48.
Another resident, who did not want to be identified, said a friend’s wife was among those unaccounted for.
“Rationally speaking, it means there’s no hope,” she said. “But the bodies still have to be found, right? Let me see if they’ve found them ... It’s just too sorrowful. When it involves people you know, it’s even more painful.”
Hundreds of volunteers have mobilised to help the victims, sorting and distributing items from diapers to hot food.
They formed teams to collect, transport and distribute goods in round-the-clock shifts and have set up a sprawling support camp for displaced residents beside a shopping mall across from the fire-damaged Wang Fuk complex.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said the eight individuals arrested included an engineering consultant, a scaffolding subcontractor, and an intermediary.
&uuid=(email))