As the death toll from Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades rose to 151, with 40 others still missing, more than a dozen people were facing possible charges of manslaughter. Photo by Leung Man Hei/EPA
Anti-corruption authorities in Hong Kong arrested five more people Monday in connection with a catastrophic apartment complex blaze last week, bringing the total of people facing possible manslaughter charges to 13 as the death toll hit 151 with about 40 residents still unaccounted for.
Officials said the Independent Commission Against Corruption had launched a wide-reaching investigation with a view to laying manslaughter charges against suspects, including the directors of the main construction contractor and an engineering consultant of a construction company.
Those arrested include 12 men and one woman, all between the ages of 44 and 77, with principals of subcontractors responsible for the scaffolding and the exterior of the buildings among them.
The 31-story buildings at Wang Fuk Court in the New Territories, home to 4,600 people, were undergoing major renovation work when the blaze broke out on Wednesday afternoon, with suspicion falling on bamboo scaffolding with each building then wrapped in a nylon mesh sleeve.
Public ire has been mounting over previous safety breaches alleged to have been committed by the contractor for the project and slack enforcement of regulations by authorities after it was revealed residents had lodged many complaints over the past 12 months.
Hong Kong Chief Secretary Eric Chan said that of tests of 20 samples of the mesh netting, seven did not meet fire-retardant standards. He said that at first the netting appeared code-compliant, but when they were repeated with samples taken from difficult to reach spots, the netting failed safety tests.
Chan said sub-standard, cheaper, netting had been substituted and purposely used in places where it would not be detected, something he criticized as “shameful.”
“They mixed together nets that met fire safety standards with ones that did not, and put the nets that did not meet safety standards in places that only firefighters can reach,” he said.
“They just wanted to make money at the expense of people’s lives.”
Authorities have also said that fire alarms in the buildings were not working properly.
The government suspended 30 other construction projects across Hong Kong over the weekend, most of which were managed by the contractor carrying out the renovations at Wang Fuk Court.
After it was revealed repeated warnings by authorities had not been followed up or enforced, questions were being asked as to why no officials were being held to account yet three members of the public were detained under national security laws on suspicion of sedition.
Former district councilman Kenneth Cheung and an unidentified volunteer helping manage supplies for victims of the fire were alleged to have incited “hatred of the government.”
Student Miles Kwan was detained Saturday for starting an online petition demanding guaranteed support for victims and accountability for those at fault, including government officials who were found to be corrupt or culpable.
Titled “Four Demands,” commentators speculated authorities’ response was due to echoes of the “Five Demands” of a major year-long student protest movement against tough new national security laws that rocked Hong Kong to its core in 2019-20.
However, Kwan insisted he was only asking for basic remedies to what had occurred.
“If these ideas are deemed seditious or ‘crossing the line’, then I feel I can’t predict the consequences of anything anymore, and I can only do what I truly believe,” Kwan said.
News of the arrests prompted mockery from people posting on social media.
“National security must be prioritized even if the dead are still buried in the building,” one person wrote.
“Now we are aligning with mainland China’s approach, by dealing with the person who raises the question, no one will dare to ask questions, and thus Hong Kong’s governance will have no problems,” read another post.
