Sawt Falasteen - Hong Kong arrests suspects as fire death toll tops 150

The staggering death toll, which police raised to 151 on Monday after more bodies had been found, has prompted outpourings of grief across the Chinese finance hub.

The world's deadliest residential building fire since 1980 broke out on Wednesday at the high-rises of Wang Fuk Court in the city's northern Tai Po district.

Flames quickly covered the surfaces of the apartment blocks, which were wrapped with bamboo scaffolding, protective netting and foam boards as part of an estate-wide renovation that affected its nearly 2,000 flats.

Officials announced on Monday that seven of the 20 samples of netting taken from four of the wrecked towers failed to meet fire safety standards.

"We now believe that the cause was likely that the safety netting fell short of fire-resistance standards, combined with the foam boards, that led to the severity of this fire," security chief Chris Tang told a news conference.

Hong Kong's anti-corruption watchdog and police, running a joint investigation, arrested a total of 14 people, 13 of them on suspicion of manslaughter.

Eric Chan, the city's number two official, called them "shameful" and "cunning", saying they had "acted with deliberate intent and planning".

He said the suspects had mixed in patches of substandard netting to save costs, and placed it "in locations where ordinary people could not easily gather a sample".

- 'Reduced to ashes' -

Police said on Monday they had completed searches in five of the seven affected towers, raising the death toll to 151 from 146 the day before.

"We cannot rule out the possibility of this number increasing further," police representative Tsang Shuk-yin told a separate news conference.

Of the overall toll, 104 bodies have been identified.

A visibly emotional Tsang added that "some remains have already been reduced to ashes", meaning that the bodies of some of those reported missing might never be recovered.

Remains were found inside apartment units, in hallways and on staircases, police said, adding that officers will comb through the remaining towers.

Photos released by the police showed apartment walls scorched to white, while smashed belongings and furniture lay covered with soot.

One Filipino national and nine Indonesian nationals have been killed, according to their respective consulates, with 30 Indonesians still unaccounted for.

Some families of victims returned to Wang Fuk Court on Monday to begin traditional funeral rites, which are expected to continue Tuesday.

As of Monday night, more than 1,900 households have signed up for the emergency cash subsidy of HK$10,000 ($1,280), while some 2,400 people have made use of government emergency accommodation.

- 'Not in vain' -

Following a massive outpouring of grief on Sunday, when mourners formed a queue spanning the Tai Po neighbourhood, people continued to flock to a small park near the charred buildings to place flowers and notes of remembrance.

Some of the notes called for accountability, with one reading, "Hope your deaths were not in vain, the truth must come out for your sakes."

Miles Kwan, a 24-year-old student, was reportedly arrested by police for "seditious intent" after handing out flyers demanding government accountability over the fire.

An online petition containing Kwan's four demands, which included calls for an independent probe, gathered more than 10,000 signatures in less than a day before its contents were wiped.

Two other people, including former district councillor Kenneth Cheung, were also taken in by police, according to local media reports.

Kwan was seen leaving a police station on Monday afternoon in a taxi, and did not confirm if he had been formally arrested.

Cheung posted on Facebook on Monday that he had "returned home, on bail".

Asked about the reports of sedition arrests, security chief Tang said there had been "inaccurate comments online" with the sole purpose of "threatening national security".

"Therefore, we must take appropriate measures, including law enforcement measures. Operational details cannot be disclosed as they involve national security," Tang told reporters.

Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after the city saw huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before.

The former British colony passed an additional, homegrown security law last year which strengthened penalties for the crime of sedition, with offenders facing a maximum penalty of seven years in jail.

As of the start of November, Hong Kong has arrested 348 people for various national security crimes and convicted 172 of them.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST