Authorities in Hong Kong report that additional bodies have been discovered, bringing the total number of fatalities from the apartment building fire to 146.
On Sunday, reporters on the site were informed by Shuk-yin Tsang, the chief of the Hong Kong police fatality unit, that a further 100 persons are still missing. There had previously been 128 recorded deaths.
The fire, which began on Wednesday afternoon and wasn't completely put out until Friday morning, destroyed seven of the eight buildings in the Wang Fuk Court complex. Four of the buildings have been searched thus far by the police victim identification unit.
At a makeshift monument outside the burned buildings of a Hong Kong apartment complex that caught fire and killed at least 128 people in one of the deadliest fires in the city, a constant stream of visitors put bouquets of white roses, carnations, lilies, and other flowers on Sunday.
Many bowed toward the scene of the fire and murmured short prayers, or placed handwritten notes amid the flowers. "This really serves as a wake-up call for everyone, especially with these super high rise buildings," said Lian Shuzheng, a native of Hong Kong, who spent an hour standing in line with hundreds of others to add her flowers to the expanding cluster.
Thousands of city dwellers visited the scene of the fire to honor the deceased and provide supplies to families who lost everything in the fire, which began on Wednesday and took until Friday to completely put out. There has been an outpouring of support and grief.
It was "truly heartbreaking" for Lian to witness the scenario up close for the first time. "It is so pitiful, this is truly a disaster," she stated
"I hope it will draw everyone's attention to safety." Teams from the Disaster Victim Identification Unit of the Hong Kong police continued to examine the building wreckage on Sunday afternoon, carrying out what seemed to be multiple body bags while scores of people remained unaccounted for.
Authorities are currently looking into whether fire standards were broken in the eight buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex in the Tai Po district, which were all covered in bamboo scaffolding covered with nylon netting for repairs and had polystyrene panels covering their windows.
In order to conduct safety checks, Hong Kong regulators declared late on Saturday that they had ordered the immediate halt of work on 28 construction projects that the same contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, was working on.
"The Building Department's decision to temporarily suspend the works on the 28 projects managed by PC&E was due to a lack of confidence in its ability to ensure site safety," the government stated in a statement.
"The five alarm fire at Wang Fuk Court, Tai Po, exposed serious deficiencies of PC&E in site safety management, including the extensive use of foam boards to block up windows during building repairs," it stated. Calls for comment on Sunday were not returned by Prestige Construction & Engineering Company.
The day after the fire started, three men the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction business were detained on suspicion of manslaughter. Police indicated that company executives were accused of gross carelessness, although they did not name the company.
After releasing those three on bail, Hong Kong's anti-corruption authorities arrested eight more individuals, including directors of an engineering consultancy firm, scaffolding subcontractors, and project managers.
The eight 31-story apartment complex was constructed in the 1980s in Tai Po, a district close to Hong Kong's border with mainland China. It housed around 4,600 people in nearly 2,000 units.
While officials are working on longer-term options, many are currently staying in temporary emergency shelters or city hotels. "It's heartbreaking," said Jeffery Chan, a public servant who paid his respects on Sunday.
"As a resident of Hong Kong, witnessing individuals in our community lose their families and everything in a single night is intolerable if you put yourself in their position. The people of Hong Kong must support, encourage, and assist them," he stated.
According to Chris Tang, Hong Kong's secretary for security, preliminary investigations revealed that the fire began on a lower-level scaffolding net of one of the buildings on Wednesday afternoon and quickly spread inside as the foam panels caught fire and blew out windows.
Seven of the eight buildings were quickly consumed by the flames thanks to winds that helped them spread from one to the other. Over 2,000 firemen ultimately put out all the fires on Friday morning, about 40 hours later.
According to Andy Yeung, director of Hong Kong Fire Services, which is also involved in the investigation, first responders discovered that certain fire alarms in the building, which housed a large number of senior citizens, did not ring when tested.
Out of the 128 remains recovered, authorities stated on Saturday that 44 more need to be identified. There are still about 150 persons missing.
According to the Indonesian Foreign Ministry, seven migrant workers from Indonesia were among the deceased, while several others are still missing.
The Philippines Consulate General in Hong Kong reports that 12 people are still missing and that one Filipino woman who worked as a domestic servant was also dead.
"Far from her native home, she had made innumerable sacrifices to provide a better life for her family," the Consulate General confirmed the Filipino woman's passing in a statement released on Saturday.
In remembrance of those who perished in the catastrophe, some hundred Filipinos crowded a pedestrian route in central Hong Kong on Sunday afternoon, praying and singing hymns.
The Ministry of Emergency Management in Beijing declared that high-rise structures would be inspected nationally to find and eliminate fire threats.
"Bamboo scaffolding, non-flame-retardant safety nets and firefighting facilities and equipment such as fire hydrant systems, automatic sprinkler systems and automatic fire alarm systems, will be among the main items to be inspected," the ministry stated.
