The death toll of the deadly blaze at an apartment complex in Hong Kong has reached 128 as of Friday. Officials reported that the rescue operations were coming to an end, as only 16 bodies were reportedly still inside the buildings, at a press conference.
Firefighters had continued to search inside the burned high rises for people who survived after a massive blaze broke out and spread across seven of eight towers part of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po. The buildings had housed more than 4,600 people.
124 people were found dead at the scene, and 4 were declared dead at the hospital.
Are the bamboo scaffolds to blame for the spread of the fire?
The eight towers were all undergoing renovations and were wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh. Initially, it was believed that the bamboo and mesh caused the fire to spread. However, according to Hong Kong netizens, the scaffolding remained intact on Friday morning at around 3 am, after the flames were contained.
On social media, many demonstrated the fireproof nature of bamboo and defended the widely used material.
They also pointed out that the mesh nets were flammable.
Authorities say that a highly flammable styrofoam material and plastic sheets on the building's windows, which were used in the renovation, are what caused the fires to spread quickly. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-Keung said that the ignited styrofoam had produced extremely high temperatures, which in turn set the netting and the bamboo scaffolding alight.
Authorities had been trying to push for the use of fire-resistant steel instead of bamboo in construction before the fire, citing safety reasons. However, this was met with criticism by those who claimed that the move to introduce steel would only serve the interests of mainland China’s steel industry. The disaster, however, has sped up the push toward steel scaffolding, Kong Chief Executive John Lee saying that the government was considering replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal frameworks.
Who is responsible?
A majority of the dead were found in two out of the seven towers that caught fire. The status of 200 people remains unclear. 12 firefighters were also injured while tackling the blaze.
About 25 calls for help during the fire are still unresolved, as officials were not able to reach Derek Armstrong Chan, a deputy director of Hong Kong Fire Services, he told reporters.
Fire Services director Andy Yeung said that the Fire Services Department (FSD) found that the fire alarms in the estate’s eight buildings could not function properly and that a prosecution would follow. Several residents also revealed in interviews that the fire alarm in the buildings did not go off.
An owner of one of the apartments at the estate, Kiko Ma, said that the alarms were turned off amid renovation works, "This was preventable... A lot of people did not do their duties," she told the BBC. The residents also reported that construction workers were often seen smoking and cigarette butts were found on the window ledges.
The apartment complex was built in the 1980s. Nearly 40 per cent of the 4,600 residents were aged 65 and older. It also housed many foreign nationals. 19 Filipino domestic workers who resided in the building are still missing.
Two directors from Will Power Architects Company, the consultant firm in charge of the renovation project, were arrested by Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday.
Earlier, three senior staff members of renovation company Prestige Construction & Engineering Co Limited were arrested for alleged manslaughter.
The ICAC has also launched a corruption probe into the repair works that cost around HK$330 million ($42.43 million). The incident has prompted calls for stronger fire safety laws in construction.
