Flags Lowered To Half-Mast As Hong Kong Mourns Tai Po Fire Victims

Hong Kong’s Chief Executive, John Lee, alongside senior government officials and civil servants, gathered at the government headquarters on Saturday morning for a memorial ceremony honouring those who lost their lives in the Tai Po residential building blaze.

Across all government premises, both the national flag and the HKSAR flag remained at half-mast, according to Xinhua.

At a press briefing on Friday, Chris Tang Ping-Keung, the HKSAR’s secretary for security, confirmed that the Hong Kong Police Force is undertaking a comprehensive evidence-gathering process into the Wang Fuk Court fire in Tai Po.

The investigation is likely to span three to four weeks.

“It is believed that the fire first broke out in the lower-level perimeter nets of Wang Cheong House, igniting foam boards and spreading rapidly to other buildings. This caused the glass to shatter, the fire to intensify sharply and spread indoors, resulting in a disaster with large-scale simultaneous ignition. High temperatures burned the bamboo scaffolding, and falling burning bamboo pieces set fire to other scaffolding nets,” Tang explained.

Additionally, Tang noted that firefighters concluded all firefighting, rescue and search operations at 10:18 AM on Friday.

The disaster has so far claimed 128 lives, with around 200 people still missing.

Tang further added that police investigators may discover more casualties when they re-enter the site.

In total, emergency services deployed 391 fire engine sorties, 185 ambulance sorties and 2,311 personnel.

Twelve firefighters sustained injuries, while Ho Wai-ho of the Sha Tin Fire Station lost his life while responding to the incident, stated Fire Services Director Andy Yeung Yan-kin.

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