China is mourning those killed in a fire that broke out in a residential complex in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
A three-day mourning period has been declared from November 29 for those killed in the fire, according to national media reports.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu and representatives of local authorities spent the morning There was a three-minute silence, and the flags of China and Hong Kong were lowered to half-mast.
In memory of those killed in the fire, condolence books have been opened in 18 districts of the city, in which citizens can record their experiences throughout the day.
Remembrance ceremonies were held at the Chinese Foreign Ministry office in Hong Kong and at the barracks and offices of the People’s Liberation Army of China.
The fate of 200 people remains unknown
The latest statement, made on November 28, reported that the fire killed 128 people, including one firefighter, and injured 79 people, including 11 firefighters.
Firefighting efforts continued for about two days in the complex, where an estimated 4,000 people lived.
Firefighters continue search and rescue operations, but fate 200 people, including those whose bodies could not be identified and the missing, remain unknown.
Tai Po Fire
The fire, which started on November 26 at noon in the Tai Po area of the Wang Fuk complex, where there are more than 1,900 apartments, quickly spread due to the fire of bamuuk scaffolding installed on the external facades of buildings for renovation and flammable insulation materials.
In Hong Kong, where for emergency Fire situations use a 5-level classification system, and for the first time in 17 years, the highest level of danger was declared – Stage 5.
This event went down in history as the fire that caused the greatest number of victims in Hong Kong in the last 70 years.
Investigative authorities investigating the fire detained three people, including two managers of the construction company carrying out repair work at the site and a consulting engineer, according to Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) also detained 11 people as part of an investigation into corruption related to irregularities in renovation work at the building.