Three people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over a deadly fire which engulfed a high-rise residential complex in Hong Kong.
Authorities say at least 44 people, including one firefighter, have been killed and about 279 are still missing from the blaze at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po – a suburban district with around 300,000 residents in the city’s north, near the border with mainland China.
A further 45 are in hospital in a critical condition, with around 900 people also in shelters.
“The priority is to extinguish the fire and rescue the residents who are trapped,” Hong Kong leader John Lee said during an early morning news conference.
“The second is to support the injured. The third is to support and recover. Then, we’ll launch a thorough investigation.”
The fire broke out at 2.51pm local time on Wednesday.
Fire crews said they had brought the fire in four blocks under control by Thursday morning, with videos from the scene showing flames still leaping from at least two of the 32-storey towers, which had been undergoing maintenance.
It’s not known how the fire started, but police said it may have been spread through bamboo scaffolding and construction mesh sheets on one of the buildings and spread from there – likely aided by windy conditions.
Records show the Wang Fuk Court site consists of eight blocks, with almost 2,000 flats housing around 4,800 residents, including many elderly people. It was built in the 1980s and has recently been undergoing a major renovation.
The mesh sheets and scaffolding used on the buildings have been subject to a phase-out in Hong Kong since March due to safety concerns.
Hong Kong’s Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims said there have been at least three fires involving bamboo scaffolding this year.
Construction firm employees arrested
Police also discovered some windows on one unaffected building were sealed with a foam material, which had been installed by a construction company assigned to do maintenance work.
Superintendent Eileen Chung said: “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.”
She said two directors and one engineering consultant from the construction company had been arrested.
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China’s state broadcaster CCTV said President Xi Jinping has urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and minimise casualties and losses.
Both the US and British Consulate Generals for Hong Kong have sent condolences to those affected, as has Taiwan’s president.
The number of dead is already the highest in a Hong Kong fire since the Second World War, surpassing 41 killed in a blaze in a commercial building in Kowloon in November 1996, which was later found to have been caused by welding during internal renovations.
A subsequent public inquiry saw sweeping updates to building standards and fire safety regulations in the city’s high-rise offices, shops, and homes.
