Beijing, Nov 30, (dpa/GNA) – Authorities arrested eight more people in connection with the most devastating fire in Hong Kong in decades, which has claimed at least 128 lives, officials said on Friday.
Hong Kong’s Anti-Corruption Commission said the eight – seven men and one woman aged 40 to 63 – include four employees of a consultancy overseeing renovations at the now-destroyed Wang Fuk Court residential complex and three subcontractors involved in scaffolding work. The eighth was a project intermediary.
The fire broke out in a building of the complex on Wednesday and subsequently spread to other blocks, each with more than 30 floors. City official Chris Tang said on Friday the death toll has risen to 128, with a further 200 people still missing, while many bodies are still unidentified.
Among the 79 injured people are several firefighters, while one 37-year-old fireman died in the operation.
The fire brigade extinguished the flames and completed its search and rescue work on Friday. The exact cause of the fire is not yet known.
Three men arrested on Thursday
Police had already arrested three men on Thursday, including two directors and a technical advisor of a construction company, on suspicion of manslaughter. They are accused of using unapproved materials for scaffolding nets and polystyrene panels that may have fuelled the fire’s rapid spread.
Tang said 108 bodies have been retrieved from the tower blocks, while four people died in hospital. The remaining 16 bodies were still in the buildings, he said, although the authorities could not rule out the possibility of further bodies being found.
Bamboo scaffolding had been erected around the apartment blocks for ongoing renovations to the complex, which dates back to the 1980s. Authorities said some materials used in the work may not have met safety regulations.
The government of the Chinese special administrative region announced that it would switch to steel scaffolding as soon as possible following criticism over the fire safety of bamboo scaffolding.
GNA