More than 100 people have been killed after a fire spread through a number of tower blocks in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Security Chief Chris Tang said that 128 people had been killed and 79 people had been injured after the blaze broke out and tore through bamboo scaffolding on high-rise buildings in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.
He added that around 200 people were still unaccounted for, but the recovery mission had wrapped up after emergency service workers spent days battling flames and heavy smoke to try and rescue people.
The housing estate, where more than 4,600 people were living, had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh for renovation work when the fire started and quickly spread on Wednesday.
Tang added that 12 firemen have been injured in the rescue efforts, and one is in a serious condition.
During the press conference, he added that the fire alarms in the affected buildings were not working properly.
Police said they had arrested three construction company officials on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials, including flammable foam boards blocking windows.
The fire is Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze. It’s led to comparisons to Grenfell Tower fire in west London, which killed 72 people in 2017.
While firefighters contained the blaze on Friday and doused the still-smouldering complex, families are searching through photographs taken by emergency service workers for their loved ones.
One resident, who did not want to be identified, said her 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?
‘It’s just too sorrowful. When it involves people you know, it’s even more painful.’
According to the Reuters news agency, two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm identified by the government as doing maintenance on the estate for more than a year, have been arrested.
A raid was carried out on their officers a few days ago, where police seized bidding documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid of the company’s office.
‘We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,’ Police Superintendent Eileen Chung said on Thursday.
Prestige has not commented.
The city’s development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.
Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said the government would set up a HK$300 million (£33 million) fund to help residents, while some of China’s biggest listed companies have also announced donations.
This is a breaking news story and is being updated.
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