Some construction netting samples taken from the site of the fatal Tai Po blaze have failed to meet fire safety standards, authorities say.
Meanwhile, 13 people have now been arrested for suspected manslaughter, the police force’s Director of Crime and Security Joe Chan Tung said during a media briefing on Monday.
They include 12 men and one woman, aged between 40 and 77. Among them were people linked to the main construction contractor, construction consultancy firm, and subcontractors in charge of scaffolding and the exterior walls.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters that police had collected 20 samples of construction netting from Wang Fuk Court, which was undergoing a large-scale renovation project when the blaze broke out.
“[The places we took] samples from were from high, medium and low [spots], and not just those easily reachable from the window,” Tang said in Cantonese, adding that firefighters climbed out of windows to obtain some of the samples.
Seven out of 20 did not pass fire safety tests.
Samples that were easier to reach had a higher rate of passing the fire resistance tests than those that were trickier to obtain, Tang added
His announcement comes three days after authorities said preliminary tests showed that the nets had passed fire resistance assessments.
But the security chief said on Monday that previously, when the fire was still raging, police were only able to collect samples from the ground at Wang Chi House – the single block in the eight-building estate that did not catch fire.
Early results suggesting the netting was fire safe “were not consistent with the observations of firefighters on the scene, experts and even citizens,” he said, explaining why the tests were done again.
Police will continue taking more samples for testing, he added.
“We believe it was the protective nets that did not meet fire resistance standards, and the Styrofoam boards, that caused the fire to spread so rapidly,” Tang said.
Foam boards were used as part of protective materials, which authorities have pointed to as contributing to the fire’s rapid spread. Fire alarms were also faulty, authorities have said.
Woo Ying-ming, the commissioner of the ICAC, said the anti-corruption watchdog arrested 12 people. Among them, 11 were also arrested by police.
Those arrested by the ICAC include construction consultants and scaffolding contractors.
Corruption investigation
Woo, the ICAC head, said their corruption investigation had found that protective nets that fell below fire safety standards were used at Wang Fuk Court.
He said that in July, a typhoon damaged parts of the nets at the complex. Suspects then bought replacement nets which did not meet fire resistance standards from a local supplier.
The quantity purchased was enough to encase eight housing blocks, Woo said.
Then, in late-October, after a fire also linked to bamboo scaffolding and protective nets broke out in Central, the suspects grew concerned that their nets would be subject to safety inspections.
They went to the same supplier and bought more nets, but this time, ones that met fire safety standards. They cost HK$100 per roll, almost twice as much as the ones that did not meet safety standards, which were HK$54 per roll.
Workers then installed these nets at the base of the scaffolding, Woo added: “Their aim was to deceive and make sure they would obtain a pass result in safety tests.”
Chief Secretary Eric Chan said suspects used “extremely cunning methods” to evade the government’s checks.
“They mixed together nets that met fire safety standards with ones that did not, and put the nets that did not meet safety standards in places that only firefighters can reach,” he said in Cantonese.
“[They] killed so many people just to make petty profit,” he added.
Death toll expected to rise
The toll is expected to rise as the search continues at the remaining two blocks.
Meanwhile, mourners gathered throughout the weekend and into Monday, laying flowers at parks and podiums around the devastated 4,000-unit complex.
When the fire hit last Wednesday, the housing estate had been undergoing a large-scale revamp for over a year. The government announced on Saturday that it had suspended 30 other construction projects around the city – most were managed by the firm responsible for renovation work at the fire site.
This Saturday’s election will reportedly proceed, with three days of official mourning set to end on Monday.
