Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency yesterday said it arrested eight people connected to the renovation of the high-rise apartments that were engulfed in a massive fire that left at least 128 people dead and many more unaccounted for.
The seven men and one woman were scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consultant company and project managers supervising the renovation, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said.
The agency also searched their offices, seizing documents and bank records.
Photo: Reuters
The investigation over possible corruption in the renovation project was launched on Thursday after the fatal fire broke out on Wednesday.
Hong Kong firefighters found dozens more bodies yesterday in an intensive apartment-by-apartment search of Wang Fuk Court, where a massive fire engulfed seven buildings.
First responders found that some fire alarms in the complex, which housed many older people, did not sound when tested, Hong Kong Fire Services Director Andy Yeung said.
The blaze jumped rapidly from one building to the next, as bamboo scaffolding covered in netting and foam panels apparently installed by a construction company caught fire.
Crews prioritized apartments from which they had received emergency calls during the blaze but were unable to reach in the hours that the fire burned out of control, Hong Kong Fire Services Deputy Director Derek Armstrong Chan said.
It took firefighters about 24 hours to bring the fire under control, and it was not fully extinguished until yesterday morning. Even two days after the fire began, smoke continued to drift out of the charred skeletons of the buildings from the occasional flare-up.
About 200 people remain unaccounted for, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang said. That included 89 bodies that have not yet been identified.
More bodies might be recovered, authorities said, although crews have finished a search for anyone living trapped inside.
More than 2,300 firefighters and medical personnel were involved in the operation, and 12 firefighters were among the 79 people injured, Yeung said, adding that one firefighter was killed.
The apartment complex of eight 31-story buildings in Tai Po District was built in the 1980s and had been undergoing a major renovation. It had almost 2,000 apartments and about 4,800 residents.
Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and gross negligence, police said.
Police have not identified the company where the suspects worked, but documents posted to the homeowners association’s Web site showed that Prestige Construction and Engineering Co was in charge of renovations.
Authorities suspected some materials on the exterior walls of the buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, allowing the unusually fast spread of the fire.
Police also said they found plastic foam panels — which are highly flammable — attached to the windows on each floor of the one unaffected tower. The panels were believed to have been installed by the construction company, but the purpose was not clear.
It appears that the fire started on a lower-level scaffolding net of one of the buildings, and then spread rapidly, as the foam panels caught fire, Tang said.
“The blaze ignited the foam panels, causing the glass to shatter and leading to a swift intensification of the fire and its spread into the interior spaces,” Tang added.
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
Japan and the Philippines yesterday signed a defense pact that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with China, which was angered by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would be a survival-threatening situation for Japan, triggering a military response. Japan and the Philippines have also had separate territorial conflicts with Beijing in the East and South China
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS