Low-level work, evading oversight helped fuel Hong Kong’s deadly fire, investigators say
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An independent commission investigating the cause of Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades heard arguments that poor practices and oversight turned a small fire into a disaster, as the inquiry neared its conclusion on Friday.
The November fire spread through seven apartment buildings, killing 168 people and displacing thousands of residents from Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po district. Most of the residents are now living in temporary housing.
The committee’s lead lawyer, Victor Dawes, said the use of fire nets may have been an important reason why the fire spread so quickly at the complex, which was undergoing major renovations when the fire started. Having boards up through stairwell windows caused smoke to escape residents’ escape routes, he said.
He said Will Power Architects Company, a consultancy, and Prestige Construction & Engineering Co., which is the main contractor for the project, cut off work and construction materials, in addition to deceiving regulators and homeowners, he said.
A variety of substandard and inappropriate methods were involved, including fraudulent compliance testing. Certain experts responsible for inspections signed the documents “like a rubber stamp,” Dawes said.
He also criticized the government’s reliance on the recognition system that oversees this project, saying that the relevant departments should be part of this project.
“When dealing with dishonest actors, the whole system collapses,” he said.
Hong Kong officials said Monday that their investigation into the fire that killed 151 people had revealed that some of the netting that covered the scaffolding used for repairs did not meet safety codes.
Many residents cried during the trial and after closing statements, which concluded on Friday. Yip Ka-kui, who lost his wife in the fire, was one of them.
Yip said he was emotionally upset because Dawes’ statements show that he tried his best to find answers for them, even though the final results may not be what they expected. But he said the government attorney’s speeches the day before showed that government departments had not learned their lesson.
“Even if they are faced with such a great tragedy, they cannot take drastic measures to end these bad habits that have been around for a long time,” he said.
Lee Kwok-hung, who lost his mother and two housekeepers, rejected the government’s comments that others were deceiving him, asking why so many fell for the lies.
“How much do they earn? And are they hired just to deceive people?” he said.
On Thursday, lawyer Jenkin Suen, representing the government, admitted that there are some weaknesses, but said that it would not be good to say that the government departments are the ones who started the fire. Some experts and contractors have misused the method intended to protect the public and betrayed the trust placed in them, he said.
Tender rigging is common
Apart from the cause of the fire, the committee was considering whether systemic problems and tender rigging corruption are involved in major damage repair works.
Dawes said on Friday that tender rigging is common in the city and the Wang Fuk Court situation was not an isolated case.
Last month, Hong Kong authorities indicted seven people, along with Will Power and Prestige, on charges including murder and conspiracy to commit arson.
Authorities alleged that the two companies and other defendants conspired to defraud apartment owners by concealing Prestige’s previous case records and by inflating the company’s score in the tender evaluation report. That eventually led to Prestige being awarded the maintenance work, a contract worth more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars (more than 53 million Cdn), they said.
Firefighters in Hong Kong found dozens of bodies in a search of a high-rise building where a massive fire engulfed seven buildings, bringing the death toll to 128 and many others missing. Authorities have arrested 8 other people involved in the renovation of the towers.
Dawes said the tragedy cannot be explained by just one cause because the problems were intertwined.
The investigative committee led by Supreme Court judge David Lok is expected to give recommendations after reviewing the cause of the fire, potential problems and whether existing laws and penalties are sufficient.
When it was established in December, the government said the panel would submit a report in nine months. It is not known when the committee’s findings will be released.
Its scope does not include potential legal liabilities, which will be handled by legal authorities.
