Three Hong Kong men from a construction company arrested over the fatal inferno in Tai Po have been granted bail pending investigation, according to police.
In an emailed reply to HKFP’s queries shortly after midnight on Saturday, a police spokesperson said: “The three men have been granted bail pending investigation and have to report to the police in early December.”
The trio were arrested on suspicion of manslaughter on Thursday, hours after a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed seven of the eight buildings at the housing complex.
The blaze has since become the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. According to official figures released on Friday afternoon, at least 128 people have been killed in the inferno and around 200 people remain missing.
The three men, aged 52 to 68, are two directors and an engineering consultant from Prestige Construction & Engineering, a firm in charge of the renovation works at Wang Fuk Court.
Security chief Chris Tang told a press conference on Friday that “highly flammable” styrofoam boards found outside the windows could have accelerated the rapid spread of the fire.
But preliminary investigations suggested that the netting used to cover bamboo scaffolding met fire-resistance standards.
Authorities believe the fire began in the netting covering the lower floors of Wang Cheong House and ignited the boards, sending flames rapidly upward.
“Within a short period, a large-scale blaze broke out both inside and outside the buildings, leading to the tragedy,” Tang said in Cantonese.
Fire services director Andy Yeung said at the same press conference that they had discovered the alarm systems in all eight blocks “could not function properly,” and that they would take action against the fire safety contractors of the estate.
Separately, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday arrested eight people on suspicion of corruption linked to the renovation project at Wang Fuk Court, which has a price tag of HK$330 million.
The eight are seven men and a woman, aged 40 to 63, including directors of a construction consulting firm as well as bamboo scaffolding subcontractors.
