Security official Chris Tang told a news conference that 108 people died at the scene after the blaze broke out on Wednesday in the Wang Fuk Court complex in the Tai Po district. He said 89 victims have yet to be identified and warned the death toll could rise.
Searches continue for about 200 people, a figure that includes the still-unidentified dead. Firefighters have so far reached more than half of the roughly 2,000 apartments in the complex, which consists of eight 31-story towers under renovation. The fire ultimately spread to seven of the buildings.
The fire service declared the blaze extinguished around midday Friday local time, about 45 hours after flames first appeared on the ground floor of one block. Tang said tests showed the scaffolding netting was nonflammable, but flammable styrofoam panels installed in window openings helped the fire spread “unusually fast.”
Temperatures of about 500 degrees Celsius caused windows to shatter, allowing flames to burst into apartments.
Fire Services Department chief Andy Yeung Yan-kin said fire alarm systems in all eight buildings did not work properly. Residents also reported they did not hear any alarm signals.
More than 2,300 firefighters, 391 fire engines and 188 ambulances took part in the operation. One firefighter was killed and 12 were injured, one of them critically. Helicopters were not used because aerial water drops are ineffective for high-rise fires, officials said.
Police arrested three men — directors and a consultant of the construction company working at the site — on suspicion of “extreme negligence” and causing death by negligence. Officers seized 14 computers from the firm’s office.
Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption joined the investigation to examine possible irregularities in construction contracts. Authorities said the probe into the cause of the fire could take several weeks.
Local media said it was Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948 and the worst such disaster since the territory was handed back to China in 1997.
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Source: PAP, Euronews, Reuters