Last updated on November 28 at 3:19pm.
The ICAC, Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body, has arrested two directors of Will Power Architects Company, the consultant firm in charge of the renovation project at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, bringing the number of arrests to five over the fire that has claimed 128 lives as of Friday afternoon.
John Lee Ka-chiu earlier ordered inspections of all public housing estates undergoing major renovations, with authorities launching a criminal investigation into the city’s deadliest conflagration in seven decades.
Rescue work continues as raging flames in all blocks have been brought under control in Wang Fuk Court. Some 56 people remain in hospital.
According to a preliminary investigation, officers discovered highly flammable styrofoam cloaking lift windows on every floor, which authorities said caused the fire to spread more rapidly within the blocks and ignite flats through the corridors. The mesh netting and sheeting used outside the buildings also did not meet fire safety standards, officials said on Wednesday night.
Three senior staff members of Prestige Construction & Engineering Co Limited, including two directors, were arrested for alleged manslaughter on Thursday. The renovation company allegedly used non-compliant materials in scaffolding nets and sealed windows with styrofoam, which sparked the tragedy as the highly flammable substances caused the fire to spread rapidly.
President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences on Wednesday evening and called for “all-out efforts” to minimise casualties and losses. After visiting the injured in hospital early on Thursday, city leader Lee vowed to investigate the fire and the scaffolding.
The fire was first reported at 2.51pm on Wednesday and soon grew into an inferno, with huge plumes of dark smoke billowing high into the sky, and the flames quickly spreading to seven of the eight blocks in the estate.
Initial footage showed bamboo scaffolding outside several flats rapidly bursting into spiralling flames, before being completely engulfed in multiple towering columns of fire. Burning sections of green scaffolding mesh fell to the ground.
An spokesman for the Education Development Bureau (EDB) said that immediately after the incident, the EDB had contacted the school heads associations in Tai Po and schools near Wang Fuk Court and sent educational psychologists and officers from the Tai Po District School Development Section to the temporary shelters at the Fu Shin Community Hall and Good House in Tai Po to offer appropriate support for affected students.
The EDB announced that due to the fire and obstructed traffic from nearby road blockages, some schools would suspend classes on Friday, including CCC Fung Leung Kit Memorial Secondary School, Tai Po Baptist Public School, S.K.H. Yuen Chen Maun Chen Primary School, H.K. & Kowloon Kaifong Women’s Association Sun Fong Chung College and Po Leung Kuk Lau Chun Kindergarten.
Hotlines for help and donations:
Casualty enquiry hotline of police: 1878 999
Health Bureau’s Mental Health Support Hotline: 18111
Tai Po District Office help desk at Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital for assistance and public enquiries: 2658 4040.
Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui (donations): 8209 8122
Hong Kong Family Welfare Society (donations): 2772 2322
For a more thorough list of organisations, head here.
Reporting by Ambrose Li, Danny Mok, Angeline Jiang, Fiona Chow, Willa Wu, Olga Wong, Natalie Wong, Mike Chan and William Zheng.
