HONG KONG, Nov 28 — Hong Kong's anti-graft body has arrested eight people in connection with a fire that ripped through a high-rise apartment complex, killing at least 128 people with 200 still missing in the city's worst fire in nearly 80 years.
The authorities said they had concluded rescue operations at the Wang Fuk Court complex in the northern district of Tai Po today, but warned the death toll may still rise.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption also said it had launched a task force to investigate possible corruption in the renovation project at the complex, after police arrested three people yesterday.
More bodies may be found
The fire in the Wang Fuk Court development started on Wednesday (November 26) afternoon and rapidly engulfed seven of the eight 32-storey blocks in the complex.
"We do not rule out the possibility that more bodies could be discovered when police enter the building for detailed investigations," Hong Kong Security Chief Chris Tang told a press conference.
He added that fire alarms in the complex had not been working properly. The estate, housing over 4,600 people, had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh for the renovations.
Waiting for temperatures to drop
Rescue efforts had now been concluded, and at least 79 people, including 12 firefighters, were injured.
"Our aim now is to make sure the temperature decreases in the building, and once everything is deemed safe, police will collect evidence and conduct further investigation,” Tang said.
Earlier today, mourners laid flower tributes in front of the charred and smouldering buildings, while distressed residents surveyed the remains of their homes.
“This is my home. Look over there, the 10th floor, that is where my home was. By the hills, that is where my home used to be.
"I really want to go back home, but my home is probably gone now. They will not let us go back, so when I look in that direction, my heart feels so heavy," one resident, identified only as Miss Yu, said.
'There is no hope,' friend says
Meanwhile, families had the grim task of looking at photographs of the dead taken by rescue workers. Tang said only 39 of the 128 dead had been identified.
Mirra Wong, whose parents were living in Wang Fuk Court, was looking for news of her father.
"Just recognise some picture is maybe (the) body of my dad. My dad's body is still missing here," said Wong, 48.
Another resident, who did not want to be identified, said a friend's wife was among those unaccounted for.
"Rationally speaking, it means there is no hope. But the bodies still have to be found, right?
"Let me see if they have found them ... It is just too sorrowful. When it involves people you know, it is even more painful," she said.
Volunteers distribute aid
Hundreds of volunteers have mobilised to help the victims, sorting and distributing items from diapers to hot food.
They formed teams to collect, transport and distribute goods in round-the-clock shifts, and have set up a sprawling support camp for displaced residents beside a shopping mall across from the fire-damaged Wang Fuk complex.
The fire is Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze, and has prompted comparisons to London's Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017.
Residents of the housing complex were told by authorities last year that they faced "relatively low fire risks" after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation works, the city's Labour Department told Reuters.
The residents had raised concerns over the renovations in September last year, including about the potential flammability of the protective green mesh contractors had used to cover the bamboo scaffolding erected around the buildings, a department spokesperson said in an email.
Anti-graft body makes more arrests
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said the eight individuals arrested included an engineering consultant, a scaffolding subcontractor, and an intermediary.
Yesterday, the police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm identified by the government as doing maintenance on Wang Fuk Court for more than a year, on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials, including flammable foam boards blocking windows.
Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.
The city's development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding to improve safety.
Domestic workers among the missing
Dozens of domestic workers from the Philippines had been caught up in the disaster, and 19 were still missing, said the migrant women Refuge Association Bethune House's executive director Edwina Antonio.
Indonesia's Consulate said two of the dead were its nationals, also working as domestic helpers. Hong Kong has around 368,000 domestic workers, primarily women from low-income Asian countries who live with their employers.
Hong Kong's Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said the government would set up a HK$300 million (RM159.2 million) fund to help residents, while some of China's biggest listed companies announced donations.
Hong Kong, one of the world's most densely populated cities, is scattered with high-rise housing complexes. Its sky-high property prices have long been a trigger for discontent, and analysts say the tragedy could stoke resentment towards the authorities despite efforts to tighten political and national security control.
Even those not directly affected spoke of how it had affected them.
“Hong Kong is very small. Even if at this moment we do not personally know anyone there, friends of friends definitely do. So the people affected ... this incident feels really close to us,” said student Crystal Ho, 22.
