Hong Kong police arrest construction firm bosses over fire; death toll hits 83

Hong Kong police arrested the bosses of a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter on Thursday over the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years, which killed at least 83 people with scores more listed as missing.

Firefighters had mostly contained the blaze that tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po. The estate had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh.

Rescuers battled intense heat and thick smoke for more than a day as they fought to reach residents feared trapped on the upper floors.

Video showed firefighters with flashlights searching through the charred remains of the towers on Thursday night. At a news conference in the early hours of Friday, authorities said they expected the blaze to be fully extinguished in coming hours.

A distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said are housing 900 residents.

“She and her father are still not out yet,” said the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng, as she sobbed. “They didn’t have water to save our building.”

Police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm contracted to perform maintenance on the buildings. Police said those arrested were under suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials.

“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. Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.

Police seized bidding documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid of the company’s office, the government added.

WORST FIRE SINCE 1948

The confirmed death toll rose to 83 as of midnight in Hong Kong on Thursday, Hong Kong’s emergency responders said. That made it Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.

The government said in the very early hours on Thursday that 279 people were listed as missing, but that figure has not been updated for 24 hours.

In a telegram to Hong Kong’s bishop, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, Pope Leo sent “spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve”.

Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said the government would set up a HK$300 million ($39 million) fund to help residents while companies including automakers Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely as well as the charity foundation of Alibaba’s founder Jack Ma and Tencent announced donations.

On the second night after the blaze, dozens of evacuees set up mattresses in a nearby mall, with many saying official evacuation centres should be saved for those with greater need.

People – from elderly residents to schoolchildren – wrapped themselves in duvets and huddled in tents outside a McDonald’s restaurant and convenience shops as a steady stream of volunteers handed out snacks and toiletries.

The eight blocks of the tightly-packed complex of 2,000 apartments were home to more than 4,600 people in the financial hub, which is struggling to overcome chronic shortages of affordable housing.

Police also said they found foam material sealing windows on one unaffected building, installed in year-long maintenance work.

The city’s development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding, opens new tab with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.

China’s President Xi Jinping urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and minimise casualties and losses, state broadcaster CCTV said.

The leadership of both the Hong Kong government and China’s Communist Party moved quickly to show they attached utmost importance to a tragedy seen as a potential test of Beijing’s grip on the semi-autonomous region.

Hong Kong’s sky-high property prices have long been a trigger for discontent and the tragedy could stoke resentment towards authorities despite efforts to tighten political and national security control.

“27TH FLOOR, ROOM 1: HE IS DEAD”

An online app showed reports of missing persons submitted through a linked Google document that detailed residents of individual towers and rooms.

It includes descriptions such as “Mother-in-law in her 70s, missing” or “one boy and one girl” or “Rooftop: 33-year-old male.”

One simply read: “27th floor, room 1: He is dead.”

Reuters could not independently verify the information on the app.

The fire has prompted comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017. That fire was blamed on firms fitting the exterior with flammable cladding, as well as failings by the government and the construction industry.

Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, is scattered with high-rise housing complexes. Tai Po, near the border with mainland China, is an established suburban district and home to about 300,000.

Occupied since 1983, the complex is under a government-subsidised home ownership scheme, according to property agency websites, a lifeline for the city’s middle-income families.