Hong Kong police have arrested the directors of a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter, following the city's worst fire in nearly 80 years, which killed at least 83 people and left dozens missing.
Firefighters have largely brought under control a fire that raged for more than 24 hours at a residential complex in the northern city district of Tai Po. The building was under renovation and was surrounded by bamboo scaffolding and green protective netting, Reuters reports.
Most of the victims were found in skyscrapers within the eight-tower complex, said Deputy Fire Chief Derek Armstrong Chen.
He said firefighters had found living occupants in several buildings, but gave no further details. The South China Morning Post reported that one survivor was found in the stairwell of one of the buildings.
"We expect the fire to be completely extinguished tonight," Chen said.
"We will continue to pour water to bring down the temperature," he added.
Police have arrested two directors and an engineering consultant from Prestige Construction, a company that was involved in building maintenance, on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials.
"We have reason to believe that those responsible at the company acted with extreme carelessness, which led to this accident and allowed the fire to spread uncontrollably, with a large number of casualties," said Police Superintendent Eileen Chung. Prestige did not return repeated calls for comment.
Police seized tender documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid on the company's office, Reuters reports.
The worst fire since 1948.
The confirmed death toll had risen to 83 by midnight on Thursday, Hong Kong's emergency services said. It was the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse fire.
The government announced in the early hours of Thursday morning that 279 people were missing, but that figure has not been updated for 24 hours.
In a telegram sent to the Bishop of Hong Kong, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-yan, Pope Leo expressed "spiritual solidarity with all who suffer from the consequences of this accident, especially with the injured and the grieving families."
Hong Kong leader John Lee said the government would set up a HK$300 million (about US$39 million) fund to help tenants, while companies including carmakers Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely, as well as Alibaba founder Jack Ma's charity foundation and Tencent, have announced donations.
On the second night after the fire broke out, dozens of evacuees set up mattresses in a nearby shopping mall, with many saying that official shelters should remain for those most in need.
The eight towers in this dense 2.000-apartment complex were home to more than 4.600 people in a financial metropolis that has long faced a chronic shortage of affordable housing.
Police also said they found foam material used to seal windows at one of the buildings not affected by the fire, which had been installed during a year-long maintenance project.
The city's development bureau is considering gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal, as a measure to improve safety.
Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "maximum efforts" to completely extinguish the fire and reduce the number of casualties and material damage, state broadcaster CCTV (CCTV) reported.
The top leadership of Hong Kong and the Communist Party of China reacted quickly to show that they attach the utmost importance to the tragedy, which is also seen as a kind of test of Beijing's control over this semi-autonomous region.
Sky-high real estate prices in Hong Kong have long been a source of discontent, and this tragedy could fuel resentment against the authorities despite efforts to tighten political and security controls.
The fire has drawn comparisons to the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, which killed 72 people. That fire was blamed on companies that clad the building's exterior with flammable material, as well as on government and construction industry failures.
Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, is dotted with residential skyscrapers. Tai Po, near the border with mainland China, is a developed suburban district with a population of around 300.000.
The complex, which was moved into in 1983, is part of the government's subsidized housing program, according to real estate agencies - a lifeline for middle-income families in this city.
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