HK fire death toll climbs to 55, nearly 280 missing
The death toll in a devastating fire that engulfed seven residential high-rises in Hong Kong’s Tai Po District rose to 55 this afternoon, the authorities have announced, as police arrested three men linked to a contractor carrying out renovation work at the estate on suspicion of manslaughter.
Fire service officials told a news conference that 51 died at the scene, while four died in hospital.
Among the dead was a 37-year-old firefighter, who was found with burns on his face half an hour after losing contact with colleagues, according to the fire service director Andy Yeung.
The deadly blaze erupted at about 2:50 p.m. yesterday.
Of the 68 people injured in the blaze, 16 were in a critical condition in hospital, while 25 deemed serious, according to official reports.
While Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu had earlier said 279 people were feared missing, Deputy Fire Services Director Derek Chan told reporters that contact had been made with 72 people since then, though he cautioned that authorities had received numerous calls for assistance and some may be repeats.
Lee, who visited the disaster site this afternoon, also said more than 900 people sought refuge at temporary shelters overnight. After visiting the injured in hospital early earlier today, Lee vowed to launch a thorough investigation of the fire and the scaffolding.
Firefighters, he said, have been finding survivors at various locations.
Chan added that firefighters had put fires at four blocks of Wang Fuk Court under control by this morning, but were still battling to contain blazes at three other buildings.
“Up to this moment, the temperature inside the fire scene is still very high, so we have difficulties in proceeding to upper floors of two of the buildings,” he said.
“We expect our operation to last at least to the evening,” Chan added.
Senior police superintendent Eileen Chung told the same briefing that three men, aged 52 to 68, have been arrested for alleged manslaughter amid suspicions that construction materials put up around the building did not meet fire safety standards.
Cheung, in particular, pointed to Styrofoam boards covering some windows at the estate as being potential fire hazards.
“We found Styrofoam [boards] installed outside some windows on each floor near the lift lobby.” Chung said.
“Everyone knows this material is inflammable… and could potentially accelerate the spread of fire, and it’s suspected it may be one of the causes [of] the fire, and [why it] spread so quickly.”
She said police had reason to believe the contractor had been “grossly negligent”, and officers had arrested two company directors and a consultant in operations spanning Tai Po, Ngau Tau Kok and San Po Kong districts.
Chung said the police will work with the Fire Services Department and other departments to quickly conduct investigations in the wake of the fire to find out how it started.
President Xi Jinping yesterday expressed condolences to the victims, including "the firefighter who died in the line of duty". Xi called for “all-out efforts” to minimise casualties and losses. Last night, Macau SAR Chief Executive Sam Hou Fai also conveyed his condolences to the victims.
According to Hong Kong media reports, the Tai Po blaze is Hong Kong's deadliest fire in at least 63 years. Reportedly, it has already matched the toll of the August 1962 inferno in Sham Shui Po District, which killed 44 people and left hundreds more homeless.
Meanwhile, in response to the Tai Po disaster, the Macau government began this morning to check the safety of scaffolding installed at buildings under construction or undergoing renovation.
- RTHK, AFP, MPD
Caption: Smoke billows from the burnt buildings of Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, Hong Kong, which caught fire yesterday afternoon, as rescue vehicles line up in the adjacent street this morning. - Photo courtesy of China Daily/Hong Kong Edition
