Hong Kong's grieving residents have flocked to the scene of the devastating apartment fire, leaving bouquets of flowers at a makeshift memorial in honor of the 146 victims. The tragedy, which occurred in the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po, has left thousands homeless and searching for loved ones.
As investigators continue to search the burnt-out buildings, they have discovered more bodies, bringing the total death toll to 146. The Hong Kong police's disaster victim identification unit is working tirelessly to identify the victims, with officers finding bodies both inside apartment units and on rooftops.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but authorities are keen to avoid any backlash by linking it to pro-democracy protests that roiled the city in 2019. Instead, they have launched an investigation into whether safety regulations were breached during renovations at the complex.
Renovations had been underway when the fire broke out on Wednesday, with workers using foam boards to block up windows and bamboo scaffolding draped with nylon netting. The disaster has exposed serious deficiencies in site safety management, according to government officials.
Many of those affected by the disaster are being housed in emergency shelters or city hotels while longer-term solutions are worked out. Residents have been left to come to terms with the loss of their families and homes, with many expressing a sense of hopelessness and despair.
A civil servant who came to pay his respects on Sunday said that seeing people losing everything in just one night was "unbearable" and that they needed encouragement, support and help from the people of Hong Kong. The government has announced plans for a nationwide inspection of high-rise buildings to identify and remove fire hazards.
The tragedy is being described as one of the worst on record in Hong Kong since a warehouse blaze in 1948 killed 176 people. As the city struggles to come to terms with this devastating loss, the focus is now on recovery and rebuilding, but for many, the pain will be hard to bear.
As investigators continue to search the burnt-out buildings, they have discovered more bodies, bringing the total death toll to 146. The Hong Kong police's disaster victim identification unit is working tirelessly to identify the victims, with officers finding bodies both inside apartment units and on rooftops.
The cause of the fire has yet to be determined, but authorities are keen to avoid any backlash by linking it to pro-democracy protests that roiled the city in 2019. Instead, they have launched an investigation into whether safety regulations were breached during renovations at the complex.
Renovations had been underway when the fire broke out on Wednesday, with workers using foam boards to block up windows and bamboo scaffolding draped with nylon netting. The disaster has exposed serious deficiencies in site safety management, according to government officials.
Many of those affected by the disaster are being housed in emergency shelters or city hotels while longer-term solutions are worked out. Residents have been left to come to terms with the loss of their families and homes, with many expressing a sense of hopelessness and despair.
A civil servant who came to pay his respects on Sunday said that seeing people losing everything in just one night was "unbearable" and that they needed encouragement, support and help from the people of Hong Kong. The government has announced plans for a nationwide inspection of high-rise buildings to identify and remove fire hazards.
The tragedy is being described as one of the worst on record in Hong Kong since a warehouse blaze in 1948 killed 176 people. As the city struggles to come to terms with this devastating loss, the focus is now on recovery and rebuilding, but for many, the pain will be hard to bear.
Like, what's next? A fire at a temple or something? 
On a serious note tho, this is just devastating. I mean 146 ppl is crazy! 
And those renovations they were doin? Yeah no wonder it caught fire like a popcorn factory in a cinema 
. The gov should probs get their act together ASAP. Anyway, hope the people of HK can bounce back from this 
.
and the fact that safety regulations weren't followed during renovations is just a huge red flag it's not acceptable to put people's lives at risk like this 
we need to make sure something like this never happens again so my question is what can be done to prevent such disasters in the future? are there new fire safety laws being implemented or stricter building codes that need to be followed? 
like whats gonna make a difference tho? they need to take responsibility & tell us the truth about what went wrong. renovation regulations are super important but so is safety. how many ppl have to die before we learn from our mistakes? 
and the fact that they're just housing people in emergency shelters or hotels for now is just not enough... need proper solutions & support ASAP 
. And the cause of the fire is still unknown... how can that be? We need answers, not just empty promises from the gov't. The fact that they're trying to avoid linking it to pro-democracy protests just shows how scared they are... but we shouldn't let them hide behind this tragedy 
. But for now, my heart goes out to all those affected by this disaster 
The fact that workers were using foam boards and bamboo scaffolding to block up windows is just...wow, talk about a recipe for disaster 
. And now thousands are left homeless and searching for their loved ones...it's just heartbreaking 
.
. Maybe they can actually learn from this tragedy and do something about it, you know? 
But until then, I guess we're all stuck dealing with the aftermath of this devastating loss 
. And it's not just the victims' families who are suffering, but also thousands of people left homeless and searching for loved ones 
. The fact that workers used foam boards to block up windows instead of proper fireproofing measures is just staggering 
.
. The city needs to rally around these affected individuals and provide them with the support and encouragement they need 
. And to the civil servant who spoke out about his feelings, I couldn't agree more 
... this tragedy is indeed unbearable, but we can get through it together 
.
. It's heartbreaking to see people losing everything they had worked so hard for 
. We need answers, we need justice, and we need help for these families ASAP 
. The safety regulations at play here are just appalling, and it's clear that cost-cutting measures didn't care about human lives 
. It's also really worrying that they're not linking the fire to those protests... if we don't get to the bottom of this, how can we trust our buildings and infrastructure? 
And what's with the lack of support for the families of the victims? A civil servant saying people need encouragement is just a Band-Aid solution - where's the real help? 
And the fact that it was during renovations when safety regulations clearly weren't being followed... ugh, just so frustrating. 
. Safety inspections should be done ASAP to prevent this from happening again. It's just not right