Hong Kong on Saturday mourned the 128 people known to have died in a massive fire at a high-rise apartment complex, a toll that is likely to rise with 150 still missing days after the disaster.
Authorities have arrested 14 people in connection with the city’s worst blaze in nearly 80 years as they investigate possible corruption and the use of unsafe materials during renovations at the Wang Fuk Court complex.
Rescue operations at the site in the district of Tai Po, near the border with mainland China, concluded on Friday, though police say they may find more bodies as they comb through the hazardous, burnt-out buildings in coming weeks.
Police revised down the number of people unaccounted for to 150 from 200 on Saturday, after confirming with some relatives that they had managed to reconnect with loved ones they initially reported as missing.
Hundreds of officers deployed to search for remains found no further bodies but rescued three cats and a turtle, police officials told a press conference.
The fire started on Wednesday afternoon and rapidly engulfed seven of the eight 32-storey blocks at the complex, which were wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh and layered with foam insulation for the renovations.
Mainland China on Saturday ordered a nationwide investigation of fire risks at high-rise buildings, especially residential blocks undergoing renovation.
Hong Kong’s Corruption body, the ICAC, said on Saturday that it had arrested three more people. They are aged between 52 and 68 and were in charge of the contractor of the renovation project at the complex.
Authorities have said the fire alarms at the Wang Fuk Court estate, home to more than 4,600 people, had not been working properly.
Hong Kong leader John Lee, other officials and civil servants, all dressed in black, stood in silence for three minutes early on Saturday outside the central government offices, where flags were lowered to half-staff.
Condolence books have been set up at 18 points around the former British colony for the public to pay their respects.
“Our most heartfelt thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones and with those that are now living with shock and uncertainty,” Britain’s King Charles said in a statement about the “appalling tragedy”.
At Wang Fuk Court, police officers wearing white overalls, helmets and oxygen masks, were seen clambering into the buildings over mounds of fallen bamboo scaffolding and around large puddles created after firefighters doused the buildings for days to try to lower the temperatures inside.
Search operations could take three to four weeks to complete, Hong Kong’s Home Secretary Alice Mak said. The two blocks searched on Saturday were the least damaged, police said.
Families and mourners gathered nearby to lay hundreds of bouquets of flowers while some faced the grim task of looking at photographs of the dead taken by rescue workers.
Christy Tang, 67, was searching for her friend, an outgoing retiree who enjoyed singing and sports. “We checked the photos of dead bodies trying to identify her but to no avail,” she said as she laid flowers in remembrance.
Domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines were also caught up in the tragedy. Hong Kong has around 368,000 such workers, mostly women from low-income Asian countries who live with their employers, often in cramped spaces. (Reuters)
