Two days after the last flames were extinguished, it is slowly becoming clear that the fire in the seven residential towers of Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district would not have had to be so disastrous if the complex’s manager and the contractor who carried out a renovation of the flats had adhered to the rules.
Immediately after the fire, a lot of attention was paid to the bamboo scaffolding that, as is often done in Hong Kong, had been placed around the apartment buildings. But it is now clear that the plastic safety net used and the Styrofoam plates used to cover the windows of the apartments caused the rapid spread of the fire. In addition, it emerged on Friday that the fire alarms in all eight residential towers of Wang Fuk Court were not working properly.
The Hong Kong Fire Brigade stated the official death toll to 146 on Sunday. The search for victims is said to have been completed in four of the seven affected residential towers. Dozens of people are still missing, and at least 79 injured people are in hospitals, some in critical condition.
Police officers carried the remains of victims from the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Hong Kong on Sunday
Photo Tyrone Siu/Reuters
The authorities have now arrested eleven people in the investigation into the disaster, including on suspicion of manslaughter, gross negligence and possible corruption. The company that carried out the renovation had previously been punished for violations of safety rules.
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The Hong Kong authorities are also receiving increasing criticism, especially due to the lack of supervision of construction safety around the residential complex. Residents had already raised the alarm several times about the unsafe construction networks.
There are also questions about the tender for the renovation. Residents found the chosen contractor too expensive, but their objections were ignored. One of the responsible district administrators would at the same time have been an advisor to the chosen construction company.
The blackened residential towers of Wang Fuk Court on Sunday. The fire has been extinguished in all towers, but the remains of dozens of missing residents are probably still in the apartments.
Photo Maxim Shemetov/Reuters
‘Rioters’
The city government, which has come under increasingly close supervision from Beijing in recent years, does not want such criticism. As in China itself, the authorities are wary of protests that can erupt after a disaster like this, and which sometimes broaden into general dissatisfaction with the government.
According to the pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po, helping volunteers included ‘rioters’
Hong Kong Police National Security Department Chief Steve Li Kwai-wah is said to have visited the disaster site on Friday to put an end to a human chain of volunteers passing on supplies for relief efforts. According to the pro-Beijing newspaper Wen Wei Po included “rioters.”
On Saturday, China’s National Security Protection Bureau issued a warning in Hong Kong a statement for “anti-China elements” looking for an opportunity to “cause chaos.” They “exploit the pain of the victims to achieve their political goals” and revive “the darkest moments of black violence” – a reference to the fierce protests against Beijing’s authority in 2019 and 2020.
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Indeed, the same day student Miles Kwan (24) became arrested on suspicion of “sedition”an offense punishable by imprisonment under Hong Kong security law. He had taken the initiative for a petition that, among other things, called for an independent investigation and for the city government to be held accountable. This weekend he handed out pamphlets near Wang Fuk Court.
Mass mourning
Kwan’s petition has been deleted on the internet, but someone who claims to be a former resident of Tai Po has the text reposted online. “If the government really […] If it wants to restore trust, it must take real responsibility instead of blaming every incident on so-called ‘black riots’ […]”, writes this ‘Snow Falcon’. “Otherwise she risks reinforcing the image that only advocates of Hong Kong independence can protect the rights of its citizens.”
Hong Kongers are standing in long lines this weekend to lay flowers at a spontaneously created memorial in a park near the affected apartment buildings.
Photo Lam Yik/Reuters
Mourners attend an Islamic prayer meeting organized by Hong Kong’s Indonesian community for the victims at Wang Fuk Court on Saturday.
Photo Amr Alfiky/Reuters
The authorities may not allow protests, but there is still room for mass public mourning. A sea of flowers has emerged in a park not far from the charred remains of the residential towers. Hong Kongers wait in a long line to express their condolences for the victims of the disaster.
Criticism is also seeping through there: “This is not just an accident, this is the rotten fruit of an unjust system,” the AFP news agency quotes an anonymous note among the bouquets.
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