Police comb fire-ravaged Hong Kong residences, loss of life toll at 146

The residence blocks had been residence to greater than 4,000 folks, based on census information, and people who escaped should now attempt to get their lives again on observe

HONG KONG – Hong Kong authorities pressed forward on Monday , December 1, with combing the remaining residence towers destroyed by an enormous fireplace at a housing property that killed a minimum of 146 folks and displaced a whole lot now adjusting to life in non permanent housing.

Police have accomplished sweeps of 4 of the seven towers that had been engulfed within the metropolis’s deadliest fireplace in additional than 75 years, discovering our bodies of residents in stairwells and on rooftops, trapped as they tried to flee the flames.

1000’s have turned out to pay tribute to the victims, who embrace a minimum of 9 home helpers from Indonesia and one from the Philippines, with traces of mourners stretching greater than a kilometer (a half-mile) alongside a canal subsequent to the doomed Wang Fuk Courtroom property on Sunday.

Vigils are additionally because of happen this week in Tokyo and London. Round 40 individuals are nonetheless lacking, authorities mentioned.

The reason for the blaze that began final Wednesday and rapidly fanned throughout the outside of the residences underneath renovation continues to be being investigated.

However amid pockets of public anger over missed fireplace danger warnings and proof of unsafe development practices, Beijing has warned it will crack down on any “anti-China” protests

Not less than one particular person concerned in a petition calling for an impartial probe amongst different calls for has been detained, sources aware of the matter mentioned.

Police have declined to touch upon specifics, saying solely that they are going to take motion in accordance with the legislation.

Search strikes to worst affected buildings

The remaining buildings to be scoured for stays are “the troublesome ones,” Amy Lam, a senior police official informed reporters on Sunday, including that the ultimate leg of the search could take weeks.

Photos shared by police confirmed officers clad in hazmat fits, face masks and helmets, inspecting rooms with blackened partitions and furnishings lowered to ashes, and wading by means of water used to douse fires that raged for days.

Throngs of officers arrived on the website early on Monday morning to proceed their search of the burnt-out buildings.

The residence blocks had been residence to greater than 4,000 folks, based on census information, and people who escaped should now attempt to get their lives again on observe.

Greater than 1,100 folks have been moved out of evacuation facilities into non permanent housing, with an extra 680 put up in youth hostels and inns, authorities mentioned.

With many residents abandoning belongings as they fled, authorities have supplied emergency funds of HK$10,000 ($1,284) to every family and supplied particular help for issuing new identification playing cards, passports and marriage certificates.

11 folks arrested in fireplace probe

Hong Kong’s deadliest fireplace since 1948, when 176 folks died in a warehouse blaze, has surprised the town, the place legislative elections are because of be held this weekend.

Authorities have arrested 11 folks as a part of investigations into attainable corruption and using unsafe supplies throughout the renovations.

The constructing was wrapped in inexperienced mesh and bamboo scaffolding and layered with foam insulation on the time. Fireplace alarms on the advanced had been additionally not working correctly, authorities have mentioned.

Residents of Wang Fuk Courtroom had been informed by authorities final yr they confronted “comparatively low fireplace dangers” after complaining about fireplace hazards posed by the renovations, the town’s Labor Division mentioned.

The residents raised considerations in September, 2024, together with in regards to the potential flammability of the mesh contractors used to cowl the scaffolding, a division spokesperson mentioned.

Police on Saturday detained Miles Kwan, 24, a part of a gaggle that launched a petition demanding an impartial probe into attainable corruption and a evaluate of development oversight, two folks aware of the matter mentioned. Reuters couldn’t set up whether or not he had been arrested.

Two others have additionally since been arrested on suspicion of seditious intent, the South China Morning Put up mentioned. The police declined to touch upon these reported arrests.

China’s nationwide safety workplace warned people on Saturday in opposition to utilizing the catastrophe to “plunge Hong Kong again into the chaos” of 2019, when large pro-democracy protests challenged Beijing and triggered a political disaster.

“We sternly warn the anti-China disruptors who try and ‘disrupt Hong Kong by means of catastrophe’,” the workplace mentioned in an announcement. “It doesn’t matter what strategies you employ, you’ll actually be held accountable and strictly punished.” – Rappler.com