Hong Kong police arrested the bosses of a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter on Thursday over the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years, which killed at least 83 people with about 300 still listed as missing.
Firefighters had mostly doused the blaze that tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po, which had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh.
Rescuers battled intense heat and thick smoke for more than a day as they fought to reach residents feared trapped on the upper floors. Video showed firefighters with flashlights searching through the charred remains of the towers on Thursday night.
A distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said are housing 900 residents.
“She and her father are still not out yet,” said the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng, as she sobbed. “They didn’t have water to save our building.”
Police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm contracted to perform maintenance on the buildings. Police said those arrested were under suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials.
“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” police superintendent Eileen Chung said. Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.
Police seized bidding documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid of the company’s office, the government added.
WORST FIRE SINCE 1948
The confirmed death toll rose to 83 as of midnight in Hong Kong on Thursday, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the fire department. That made it Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.
In a telegram to Hong Kong’s bishop, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, Pope Leo sent “spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve”.
Reuters
