HONG KONG (AP) — The death toll from a Hong Kong apartment complex fire rose to 146 on Sunday as investigators discovered more bodies in the burned buildings. A steady stream of people laid flowers at an ever-growing makeshift memorial at the site of the disaster, one of the worst in the city’s history.
The Hong Kong police’s disaster identification unit painstakingly combed the buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex and found bodies both in apartments and on rooftops, said the officer in charge, Cheng Ka-chun.
The buildings remain structurally sound, but the search has been slow, he told reporters, still wearing his white coveralls with a hard hat and breathing mask by his side. “It’s so dark inside and the low light makes it very difficult to work, especially in places away from windows.”
So far the team has examined four of the seven blocks, Cheng said.
The latest search turned up another 30 bodies, including 12 that had already been discovered by firefighters but had not been recovered, said Tsang Shuk-yin, head of the Hong Kong police casualty unit.
Another 100 people are missing and 79 have been injured, Tsang said.
At the scene, well-wishers bowed and said short prayers or left handwritten notes among the flowers.
“This really serves as a wake-up call for everyone, especially with these super tall buildings,” said Lian Shuzheng, who waited in a line of hundreds of people to add their flowers to the growing group.
People also donated supplies to those who lost everything in the fire, which started on Wednesday and took until Friday to be fully extinguished.
The eight buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex in suburban Tai Po had all been clad in bamboo scaffolding covered with nylon netting for renovation, with windows covered with polystyrene panels. Authorities are investigating whether fire codes were violated.
Other constructions of the same builder are stopped
Hong Kong officials announced late Saturday that they had ordered the immediate suspension of work on 28 construction projects undertaken by the same contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering, for safety audits.
“The five-alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court, Tai Po, exposed PC&E’s serious deficiencies in site safety management, including the widespread use of foam boards to block windows during building repairs,” the government said in a statement.
The company did not return calls for comment Sunday.
Three men – the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company – were arrested the day after the fire on suspicion of manslaughter, and police said company leaders were suspected of gross negligence. Police did not identify the company by name.
The three were released on bail but were later re-arrested by Hong Kong anti-corruption authorities, who also arrested eight other suspects, including scaffolding subcontractors, executives of an engineering consultancy and renovation project managers.
In recent days, several petitions have been started online, demanding a proper investigation into what went wrong at the apartment complex. But China’s national security authority also issued a warning on Saturday, saying it would support Hong Kong in “taking a tough stance” against any “disruptive” actions related to the disaster.
“We warn those anti-China elements… no matter what methods they use, they will be held accountable under the Hong Kong National Security Act and the National Security Ordinance.”
Faulty fire alarms and foam panels under investigation
The eight-building, 31-story apartment complex in Tai Po, a suburb near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China, was built in the 1980s. It had nearly 2,000 apartments and more than 4,600 residents.
Many are now housed in short-term emergency shelters or city hotels, while authorities work on longer-term solutions.
“It’s heartbreaking,” said Jeffery Chan, a civil servant who came to pay his respects on Sunday.
“As Hong Kong, to see people in the place where we live lose their families, lose everything in one night – if you put yourself in their shoes, it’s unbearable. They need encouragement, support and help from the people of Hong Kong,” he said.
Preliminary investigations showed the fire started on Wednesday afternoon on a scaffolding net on a lower level of one of the buildings and then spread quickly inside as foam panels caught fire and windows exploded, according to Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s security secretary. Winds helped the flames jump from building to building and soon seven of the eight were engulfed.
First responders discovered that some fire alarms in the complex, which housed many elderly people, did not go off when tested, according to Andy Yeung, director of the Hong Kong Fire Service.
Seven Indonesian migrant workers were among the dead, and several dozen are still unaccounted for, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry said. A Filipino domestic helper was also killed and 12 others remain unaccounted for, according to the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong.
On Sunday afternoon, several hundred Filipinos thronged a pedestrian street in central Hong Kong, saying prayers and singing hymns in tribute to the victims of the fire.
In Beijing, the Ministry of Emergency Management announced a nationwide inspection of high-rise buildings to identify and eliminate fire hazards.
“Bamboo scaffolding, non-fireproof safety nets… and fire-fighting installations and equipment such as fire hydrant systems, automatic sprinkler systems and automatic fire alarm systems will be among the main items to be inspected,” the ministry said.
The Wang Fuk Court fire is the worst on record since a warehouse fire in 1948 killed 176 people.
The deadliest fire in Hong Kong’s recorded history was the 1918 Race Fire, which killed more than 600 people, according to the city’s Bureau of Antiquities and Monuments.
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AP video reporter Ayaka McGill contributed to this report.