Bamboo scaffolding on a building at Wang Fuk Court housing estate. (Reuters: Tyrone Siu)
In short:
Hong Kong officials say the netting covering the scaffolding around the apartment complex that caught fire did not meet fire resistance standards.
Initial tests had suggested the netting was up to standard, but investigators had not been able to check all of it due to the blaze.
Samples of the netting were taken from multiple locations within the apartment complex and seven of the samples were not up to standards.
Hong Kong officials say the protective netting covering the scaffolding around the apartment complex that caught on fire did not meet codes for fire resistance.
Hong Kong's Secretary for Security, Chris Tang, said on Monday, local time, samples of the netting were taken from multiple locations from the seven buildings that burned. Seven samples were found to be not up to standards.
Initial tests had suggested the netting was up to standard, but investigators had not been able to check all of it due to the blaze.
"Because the fire is now out, we have been able to get to places that were not easily accessible before to take samples," Mr Tang told reporters.
The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon and took until Friday morning to extinguish.
At least 151 people were killed. Police expected to finish searching the buildings within three weeks.
Police have continued to sweep the seven towers engulfed in Wednesday's disaster at the Wang Fuk Court estate, finding bodies of residents in stairwells and on rooftops, trapped as they tried to flee the flames.
More than 40 people are still missing.
"Some of the bodies have turned into ash, therefore we might not be able to locate all missing individuals," police official Tsung Shuk Yin told reporters on Monday, choking up with emotion.
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Hong Kong's anti-corruption agency has arrested 13 people, including the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company.
On Monday, Hong Kong authorities said teams were assessing the safety of the other buildings, including the one that caught fire first and suffered the worst damage.
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The complex's buildings were all clad in bamboo scaffolding draped with nylon netting for external renovations. Windows were covered with polystyrene panels, and authorities are investigating if fire codes had been violated.
Residents have complained for almost a year about the netting that covered the scaffolding, Hong Kong's Labour Department said.
It confirmed officials had carried out 16 inspections of the renovation project since July 2024 and had warned contractors multiple times in writing that they had to meet fire safety requirements. The latest inspection was just a week before the fire.
A growing number of people have been questioning whether government officials should also be held responsible.
"People are angry and think that the Hong Kong government should be accountable," said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a locally-based political scientist and senior research fellow at the Paris-based Asia Centre think tank.