Hong Kong fire that killed dozens ‘under control’; hundreds still missing

Death toll rises to 65 arsenic rescuers unreserved to scope victims trapped successful precocious apartments of precocious rises.

Firefighters successful Hong Kong are moving for a 2nd time to enactment retired a large blaze astatine a residential complex that has killed astatine slightest 65 radical successful the Chinese territory’s deadliest and astir destructive occurrence successful 60 years.

Officials said connected Thursday that flames successful 4 buildings successful the Wang Fuk Court lodging complex, located successful the Tai Po neighbourhood, had been extinguished and fires successful the remainder of the tract were nether control.

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But rescuers are inactive racing to scope radical feared trapped connected the precocious floors of the complex, wherever astatine slightest 279 radical are unaccounted for.

Resident Lawrence Lee said helium inactive had not heard from his wife, who helium believes is trapped successful their apartment.

“When the occurrence started, I told her connected the telephone to escape. But erstwhile she near the flat, the corridor and stairs were each filled with smoke, and it was each dark, truthful she had nary prime but to spell backmost to the flat,” helium said.

The decease toll from the catastrophe stands astatine 65, including 1 firefighter, according to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department. More than 70 radical person been injured, according to the Hospital Authority, galore suffering from burns and fume inhalation.

Al Jazeera’s Katrina Yu, reporting from Beijing, said radical successful mainland China “have been watching aghast” arsenic the calamity unfolds.

“I deliberation galore radical successful China consciousness a batch of sympathy and empathy for those who are affected. Hundreds of millions of them unrecorded successful dense municipality settings, successful high-rise buildings not dissimilar those that caught occurrence successful Hong Kong’s Tai Po district,” Yu said.

Construction directors arrested connected suspicion of manslaughter

The blaze began midafternoon connected Wednesday connected bamboo scaffolding and operation netting and past dispersed crossed 7 buildings successful the complex.

Authorities suspected immoderate materials connected the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not conscionable occurrence absorption standards and led to the unusually accelerated dispersed of the fire.

Police besides said they recovered styrofoam, which is highly flammable, attached to the windows connected each level adjacent the elevator lobby of the 1 unaffected tower.

Three men from a operation institution handling attraction astatine the tract person been arrested connected suspicion of manslaughter. The men – institution directors and an engineering advisor – were suspected of being “grossly negligent”, said Eileen Chung, a elder superintendent of police.

Amid the operation information concerns, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said each lodging estates undergoing large improvements volition beryllium instantly inspected, and helium announced plans to signifier retired bamboo scaffolding.

Alex Webb, a occurrence information technologist astatine CSIRO Infrastructure Technologies successful Australia, said the catastrophe “is rather shocking” due to the fact that regulations mostly necessitate buildings to beryllium spaced isolated to support fires from spreading from 1 gathering to the next. “Typically, they don’t dispersed beyond the gathering of origin,” Webb said.

‘Seriously reappraisal occurrence safety’

Analysts said nationalist choler could beryllium directed towards the government’s gathering and occurrence information regulators.

“I judge we request to earnestly reappraisal occurrence information and tract information absorption crossed the full industry, including authorities oversight,” said Chau Sze Kit, president of the Hong Kong Construction Industry Employees General Union.

The lodging analyzable contains astir 2,000 apartments for astir 4,800 residents, including galore older radical who whitethorn person struggled to evacuate quickly.

It was built successful the 1980s and had been undergoing a large renovation project, which Hong Kong’s anticorruption bureau said it volition analyse for imaginable corruption.

Lee said the authorities would acceptable up a HK$300m (US$38.6m) money to assistance residents.

Numerous Chinese companies and groups – including Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely arsenic good arsenic the foundation instauration of Alibaba’s laminitis Jack Ma – person pledged millions successful donations to the occurrence victims.

Hong Kong person John Lee visits radical injured successful the fire at the Prince of Wales Hospital [Handout/Hong Kong Information Services Department via Reuters]