Hong Kong authorities have launched a criminal investigation into the city’s deadliest fire at a Tai Po estate that has claimed 44 lives and left 279 still unaccounted for, as rescue work continued amid flames now retreating onto the upper floors of three of the residential blocks.
The fire broke out in the Wang Fuk Court complex, a series of high-rise buildings in the Tai Po neighborhood of Hong Kong's New Territories.
The flames engulfed the bamboo scaffolding that had been erected for cosmetic repairs.
The complex has nearly 2,000 apartments and is home to about 4,000 people.
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The fire began on the bamboo scaffolding outside one of the buildings. This type of scaffolding, made from bamboo poles used by workers during repairs, burns very easily. Once the scaffolding caught fire, the flames quickly spread up the structure and into the building, and then to nearby towers.
ReplyDeleteAt least 83 people died in the blaze - the city's deadliest in more than 70 years - at Wang Fuk Court's complex, which is home to thousands.
ReplyDeleteThe tower blocks had been undergoing extensive renovations - and while the exact cause for the fire is unclear, police say materials on the outside of the buildings may have facilitated its spread.
Hong Kong labour authorities had warned the contractor working on Wang Fuk Court’s renovation about a fire hazard just a week before the housing estate in Tai Po was engulfed in the city’s worst blaze in decades.
ReplyDeleteIn the aftermath of the devastating blaze that has so far claimed 83 lives, some residents said the fire alarms did not go off while an engineer warned that the flats destroyed in the inferno might not be habitable again.
In a reply to the Post’s queries, the Labour Department said on Thursday it had inspected Wang Fuk Court 16 time since July last year, and as recently as November 20.