HK Fire Linked to Substandard Netting; Deaths Rise to 151

(Bloomberg) — Authorities found Hong Kong’s deadly blaze was accelerated by workers using cheaper, substandard netting and evading government testing, as police said the death toll has risen to 151.

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Samples taken from hard-to-reach areas at Wang Fuk Court failed safety tests, while lower-floor samples met legal standards, officials said at a press briefing Monday.

After a typhoon damaged the original netting, individuals being investigated bought 2,300 rolls of substandard netting at HK$54 ($7) a roll, enough to cover all eight buildings, the head of Hong Kong’s anti-graft agency Woo Ying Ming said. Another 115 rolls that met fire standards were bought at HK$100 apiece and installed at the base of the scaffolding in order to pass safety inspections, he said.

The rapid spread of the fire was linked to the use of the substandard scaffolding nets and foam boards, Secretary for Security Chris Tang said at the same briefing. Seven of 20 netting samples collected by authorities failed to meet standards, officials said.

Police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption have so far arrested 14 people in connection with the fire, Tang said.

Police arrested nine men and one woman on suspicion of manslaughter between Nov. 29 and Dec. 1, all in suspected connection with the tragedy in Tai Po, according to a government statement late Monday.

The suspects included a consultant, scaffolding subcontractors and a middleman on the project, the statement added. A man and a woman were released on bail and are required to report back to the police in early December, while the others remain in custody.

The fire is the deadliest in the city since a warehouse blaze in 1948 that killed 176 people, and has stoked expressions of public anger not seen since major protests about six years ago.

Regulators had issued repeated written warnings urging the contractor to put proper fire-prevention measures in place, including as recently as a week before the fire, the Labour Department said last week.

–With assistance from Filipe Pacheco and Shirley Zhao.

(Updates with arrest details to 6th and 7th paragraphs)

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