Hong Kong fire: 151 dead and 40 missing

BarcelonaThe number of deaths in the fire that occurred this Wednesday in the Wang Fuk Court residential complex The death toll in Hong Kong has risen to 151, while approximately 40 people remain missing, according to official sources on Friday. The Secretary of State for Security of the semi-autonomous region, Chris Tang Ping-keung, told the media that 80 bodies have yet to be identified and did not rule out the possibility of finding more. Authorities have declared the rescue operations concluded.

The government official, who also raised the number of injured to 79, confirmed that the cause of the rapid spread of the flames The use of highly flammable polystyrene sheets in the windows was the cause. This also caused the glass to shatter and the fire to spread inside the buildings, which were further covered by bamboo scaffolding due to renovation work on the complex. "There were extensive fires both inside and outside, which caused this disaster," Tang said.

Sources within the Hong Kong construction sector, consulted by ARA, point to a failure in the safety systems to explain the tragedy: "It doesn't matter if it's bamboo scaffolding, protective netting, or anything else on the construction site; there are regulations and safety requirements. But in this case, something probably failed," they stated. In fact, the Fire Department director, Andy Yeung, revealed in the same press conference that the fire alarms did not function correctly, as numerous neighbors had reported.

Yeung also assured that all of this will have legal consequences. So far, authorities have arrested thirteen people for their alleged responsibility in the tragedy, including individuals from the construction company in charge of the complex's renovation and an architectural firm that advised on the project.

The Independent Anti-Corruption Commission added that it has launched a working group to investigate possible cases of corruption in the complex's renovation project.

The fire, which had active hotspots until Thursday, started last Wednesday in Tower 8 of the residential complex, made up of eight 31-story buildings, constructed in 1984 and inhabited by some 4,600 people, many of them elderly. According to sources consulted by this newspaper, the complex was built by the Hong Kong Housing Authority and sold to a private individual, and is therefore privately owned.