Substandard netting found to have been used on Hong Kong blaze buildings; death toll at 151

Substandard protective nets with defective fire retardant properties have been found at the residential estate where Hong Kong's worst inferno in seven decades took place last week, authorities have said, while revealing that the death toll has risen to 151, Report informs via the South China Morning Post.

Officials said on Monday that seven out of 20 protective net samples taken from Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po had failed fire retardant standards.

The estate's eight blocks had been under renovation since July last year and were covered by scaffolding and green mesh. The inferno, which raged for 43 hours after starting on Wednesday afternoon, tore through seven blocks.

Preliminary investigations found that following typhoon damage in July, some of the nets outside the scaffolding were replaced with cheaper, non-fire-resistant material.

Chief Secretary Eric Chan Kwok-ki said the suspects employed "cunning methods" and used a mix of nets – some that were fire-resistant and some that were not.

"Samples which failed the requirements were found in spots difficult to reach, where firefighters had to climb out, to avoid detection by authorities," he told a press briefing.

Police officers searching the fire-ravaged buildings found five more bodies on Monday, pushing the death toll up to 151 from 146.

Chan said following the fire, enforcement officers took 20 samples from the upper, middle and lower floors of four buildings involved in the Tai Po fire.

Of the 20, seven were found to have failed fire-resistance requirements.

Police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) have jointly arrested 14 people in total.

Police have arrested 12 men and a woman on suspicion of manslaughter, including the main contractor, an engineering consultant and a subcontractor from the scaffolding company, among others.

ICAC chief Danny Woo Ying-ming said preliminary investigations found that after a typhoon in July, which damaged parts of the protective netting on the scaffolding, some suspects bought replacements in batches from a local supplier.

The replacement netting, which failed to meet fire safety standards, cost almost half the price of the type that was fire resistant.

"These suspects bought 2,300 rolls of netting, which did not meet fire safety standards, at HK$54 per roll [US$6.90]," Woo said.

"These could cover an area of about 75,000 square metres and were enough to cover eight buildings [at Wang Fuk Court]."

He said that following a fire involving protective netting in Central in late October, the suspects feared that authorities would step up checks on nets used in Wang Fuk Court.

"They went to the same local supplier and bought 115 rolls of fire-retardant netting, at around HK$100 per roll, which could cover 3,700 square metres," he said.

"These were used to wrap around the foot of the scaffolding, intending to pass off the substandard netting as fire resistant during subsequent checks."

Chan criticised the suspects for "trying to save a bit of money" and risking the lives and safety of residents.

Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung explained that he had initially said samples met fire safety standards on Friday because officers could only reach the ground floor of the unaffected Wang Chi House as the estate was still ablaze.

"However, the result differs from the observations made by our officers, experts and members of the public," he said.

Tang added that aside from the netting, the use of styrofoam boards to cover windows caused the panes to burst, drawing flames inwards.

Tang said the fire had spread rapidly primarily because of the nets and the flammable styrofoam boards.

Amy Lam Man-han, regional commander of New Territories North, said that officers from the police force's Disaster Victim Identification Unit had completed their search operations in five buildings – Wang Yan House, Wang Tao House, Wang Tai House, Wang Kin House and Wang Shing House.