Police in Hong Kong arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter, several local news media reported, in connection with a blaze that has killed at least 36 people and left another 279 missing in the city’s deadliest fire in years.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated as the fire which started on Wednesday afternoon, spread across seven of the eight high-rise apartment buildings in a housing complex in Tai Po district, a suburb in the New Territories. At least 29 others remained hospitalized. Bright flames and smoke shot out of windows as night fell.

Authorities said earlier that investigators would be looking into factors including whether material on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings met fire resistance standards, as the rapid spread of the fire was unusual.

Officials said the fire started on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings, a 32-storey tower, and later spread to inside the building and then to nearby buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.

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[–] 19 points 11 months ago

Everything about this sounds atrocious.

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  • [–] 7 points 11 months ago

    Oh that death toll is going to rise dramatically as 279 are reported missing.

    Oh and just while writing it I saw another headline saying 44 dead 279 missing.

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  • [–] 6 points 11 months ago (4 children)

    Do we know anything about these people? Not names or anything but were they residents? Contractors? Employees? Randoms who just wanted to kill?

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  • [–] 16 points 11 months ago (3 children)

    from the article-

    “We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent,” said Eileen Chung, a senior superintendent of police.

    The three men arrested, aged 52 to 68, are the directors and an engineering consultant of the firm.

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  • [–] 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    They actually arrested the people in charge?

    WOW. Good job.

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    [–] 6 points 11 months ago

    I'll put the final death toll at 150-180. "Missing" have even odds of not being at home.

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  • [–] 3 points 11 months ago

    I don't know how firefighters even hope to put something like that out. You can't reach the higher floors with water from the ground, it doesn't seem like there was any sort of sprinkler system in the building. Would they go in from the ground floor and just work their way up one level at a time?

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago

    Scaffolding was set up for renovations and the fire was able to spread quickly by bypassing all the fire breaks that are built into high rises and shooting up the outside. Hong Kong is unique in its use of bamboo scaffolding, which is obviously more flammable than steel.

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