Hong Kong Contractors Used Unsafe Netting at Fire Site, Officials Say
Investigators say contractors wrapped the buildings in substandard scaffolding netting and then sought to hide it from inspectors. The toll from the fire rose to 151.
Hong Kong officials said on Monday that contractors at the ill-fated housing estate where a fire killed more than 150 people had blanketed buildings with substandard scaffolding netting, and then tried to conceal the unsafe material.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption said that after a summer typhoon, some of the scaffolding netting used at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in northern Hong Kong was replaced with cheaper material that did not meet fire-safety standards.
To fool inspectors, netting that met the standards was installed at the base of the scaffolding, where samples are usually taken. Netting is used to protect people below from materials that may fall from bamboo scaffolding, which workers in Hong Kong use when repairing building exteriors.
The findings emerged as the death toll from Wednesday’s blaze rose to 151, with the police still combing the towers for bodies and evidence of identification. More than 40 people were still missing. The work of locating and identifying remains would take another three weeks, officials said.
