According to official data, the death toll from the fire at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in Hong Kong has reached 156 people. The remains of 127 victims have already been identified, the remains of 29 victims have not yet been identified. Approximately 30 people are missing.
Residents of the only tower of the residential complex not affected by the fire will be allowed to briefly return to their apartments on Wednesday and Thursday and pick up the most necessary things or valuables.
To prevent looting, the buildings are guarded by police, and residents of the surviving tower will need to show identification and register their visit to enter their apartments. Each family will be able to send up to two people to pick up things at a time, and they will be allowed to stay in the apartment for up to an hour and a half.
The deadliest fire in years consumed seven of the eight buildings in the apartment complex, which was home to more than 1,980 families.
Let us remind you that the fire engulfed seven of the eight high-rise buildings of the complex; the spread of the fire was lightning fast. According to the investigation, the reason for this was gross violations of safety regulations during renovation work: as part of the renovation, the houses were surrounded by bamboo scaffolding and covered with mounting mesh.
But the worst thing was the slabs of expanded polystyrene (foam plastic), which were mounted on the walls of buildings and outside windows for insulation. The polystyrene foam instantly flared up and burned like fumes, depriving people trapped in their apartments of a chance to survive.
To date, 15 people, 14 men and one woman, have been arrested on suspicion of negligence leading to such a catastrophic fire. They are suspected of manslaughter. The suspects include the owners and employees of the contracting company involved in the renovation of the buildings, representatives of the construction consulting company and subcontractors responsible for the scaffolding and external cladding of the walls.