More Arrests Made as Hong Kong Death Toll Hits 128

Hong Kong firefighters found dozens more bodies Friday during an intensive apartment-by-apartment search of a high-rise tower complex, after a massive fire engulfed seven of its eight buildings. The death toll in one of the city's deadliest blazes is now at least 128.

• Crews prioritized apartments from which they received more than two dozen calls for assistance during the blaze but were unable to reach, Derek Armstrong Chan, a deputy director of Hong Kong Fire Services, told reporters. The toll was increased by 34 after more bodies were found in the blackened towers, and Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters at the scene that the search for victims was continuing and the numbers could still rise, the AP reports.

• Eighty-nine of the recovered bodies have not yet been identified, Tang said. Some 200 people remain unaccounted for. Overall, he said he expected the investigation into the fire to last at least three to four weeks.
• The fire started midafternoon Wednesday in one of the Wang Fuk Court complex's eight towers, jumping rapidly from one to the next as bamboo scaffolding covered in netting in place for renovations caught ablaze until seven buildings were engulfed. Authorities suspected some materials on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, allowing the unusually fast spread of the fire.
• Hong Kong's Independent Commission Against Corruption announced Friday that it had made eight arrests in connection with the fire, including project managers at a company that was overseeing renovation work at the housing estate, the South China Morning Post reports. Three men—the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company—were arrested Thursday on suspicion of manslaughter.

• Andy Yeung, the director of Hong Kong Fire Services, said that first responders found that some fire alarms in the complex were not functioning and that there could be legal consequences.
• In total, 2,300 firefighters and medical personnel were involved in the operation, and 12 firefighters were among the 79 people injured overall, Yeung said. One firefighter was also killed. Ho Wai-ho, 37, was one of the first firefighters at the scene on Wednesday. He lost contact with his colleagues after around 30 minutes and was later found collapsed, with burns to his face, the Standard reports. He had been planning to marry his girlfriend of more than 10 years next month. "My superhero has finished his mission and returned to Krypton. You're my pride," she wrote in a social media post.