Shock is giving way to anger in Hong Kong after a massive fire ripped through a densely populated subsidised housing estate on Wednesday, killing at least 128 people and critically injuring dozens. Authorities say substandard mesh and plastic sheets on the buildings' windows may have spread the blaze, which raged for more than a day. Firefighting operations have now ended, with dozens of residents still unaccounted for.
Questions are mounting as to how the fire at Wang Fuk Court spread so rapidly and who is responsible, with many calling it a man-made disaster. Three people in charge of renovating the blocks are under arrest for manslaughter, and authorities have launched a corruption inquiry.
A post that has gone viral on social media in the wake of the blaze reads: It's not an accident. Several residents have revealed in interviews that the fire alarm did not sound when the fire broke out. Kiko Ma, who owns an apartment at Wang Fuk Court, says the alarms had been turned off amid renovation works, as construction workers regularly used fire escapes to get in and out of the building.
Ms Ma lives in Canada with her family but visits the Hong Kong apartment several times a year. This was preventable... A lot of people did not do their duties, she tells the BBC, claiming that the renovation firm used poor quality, flammable materials.
Residents often saw construction workers smoking and found cigarette butts along their window ledges, she adds.
The fire marks Hong Kong's deadliest blaze in over six decades, surpassing the toll of the August 1962 inferno which killed 44 people. The Wang Fuk Court estate, constructed in the 1980s, consists of eight 31-storey buildings, seven of which were engulfed in flames. The complex was home to about 4,600 residents, nearly 40% of whom were elderly. As inspections of housing estates are ordered by authorities, calls for a review of safety practices in renovations grow louder.
Questions are mounting as to how the fire at Wang Fuk Court spread so rapidly and who is responsible, with many calling it a man-made disaster. Three people in charge of renovating the blocks are under arrest for manslaughter, and authorities have launched a corruption inquiry.
A post that has gone viral on social media in the wake of the blaze reads: It's not an accident. Several residents have revealed in interviews that the fire alarm did not sound when the fire broke out. Kiko Ma, who owns an apartment at Wang Fuk Court, says the alarms had been turned off amid renovation works, as construction workers regularly used fire escapes to get in and out of the building.
Ms Ma lives in Canada with her family but visits the Hong Kong apartment several times a year. This was preventable... A lot of people did not do their duties, she tells the BBC, claiming that the renovation firm used poor quality, flammable materials.
Residents often saw construction workers smoking and found cigarette butts along their window ledges, she adds.
The fire marks Hong Kong's deadliest blaze in over six decades, surpassing the toll of the August 1962 inferno which killed 44 people. The Wang Fuk Court estate, constructed in the 1980s, consists of eight 31-storey buildings, seven of which were engulfed in flames. The complex was home to about 4,600 residents, nearly 40% of whom were elderly. As inspections of housing estates are ordered by authorities, calls for a review of safety practices in renovations grow louder.
