Hong Kong authorities conducted no fire risk assessment of a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) Wang Fuk Court renovation project before the city’s deadliest fire in decades ravaged the site, a public inquiry has heard. Sam Keung Sai-ming, an assistant director of the Fire Services Department’s licensing and certification branch, said on Friday that authorities did…
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. An independent committee examining the causes of Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades will hold its 10th day of evidential hearings on Friday. The Fire Services Department’s handling of shutdown notices for the fire…
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. An independent committee examining the causes of Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades, which claimed 168 lives at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, concluded its second round of hearings on Wednesday. Chung Kit-man,…
A technical fault in the interconnection between Hong Kong’s two power providers caused a brief voltage dip on Thursday, resulting in around 90 reports of people trapped in lifts within a 30-minute window. The Fire Services Department said it received about 90 reports of lift entrapments on Hong Kong Island between 9.23am and 9.53am, across…
A fire services company did not conduct any on-site inspections and merely acted as a “rubber stamp” in submitting 85 notices to shut down the hose reel system of a housing estate hit by Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades, an inquiry has heard. Separate testimony from a Fire Services Department official also noted that…
A 79-year-old mainland Chinese man who went missing while hiking on Hong Kong’s MacLehose Trail over the weekend was found on Monday afternoon. Rescuers found He Chengan conscious near Kwan Tai Temple in Tai Tong along Section 10 of the trail, where he had last been seen, police said. A government helicopter airlifted him to…
An employee of the property management firm at Hong Kong’s inferno-ravaged Wang Fuk Court housing estate has admitted the company failed in its contractual obligations to identify and follow up on fire hazards, while none of its top management testified at an evidential hearing into the disaster. The eighth day of the hearing by the…
Fire alarm and firefighting pump systems at the housing estate engulfed in Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in decades were found to have been switched off a week before the tragedy struck, with no action taken to reactivate them, an evidential hearing has been told. An independent committee investigating the Tai Po blaze, which broke out…
Staff at the property management company at Hong Kong’s inferno-ravaged Wang Fuk Court housing estate acted with disregard for legal requirements, taking such actions as deactivating the fire safety system despite knowing they needed a registered contractor to do so, an evidential hearing has been told. Victor Dawes, lead counsel for an independent committee investigating…
Hong Kong’s security minister has revealed that authorities are reviewing fire safety laws to expand enforcement powers and toughen penalties as part of a broader crackdown on illegal fuel sales in the city amid surging global oil prices. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung said on Wednesday the government’s review included possible penalty increases, expanding…