Hong Kong
—
In just some brief hours on Wednesday afternoon, what started as a small hearth on the primary ground of an condominium constructing swelled right into a raging inferno that consumed seven high-rise towers on a Hong Kong public housing property.
At least 128 individuals have died, as many as 200 are lacking, and hundreds at the moment are homeless in a metropolis that’s chronically brief of area – and the place property costs are among the many world’s most costly.
The blaze has additionally surprised Hong Kong, which has a powerful security file and is unused to disasters on this scale.
The trigger of the fireplace will not be but identified. But the buildings in the complicated had all been underneath renovation, with many home windows blocked by extremely flammable polystyrene that authorities say helped gas the fireplace.
That, and a sequence of different security shortcomings, all fueled Hong Kong’s deadliest hearth in decades.
Here’s a timeline of how the blaze burned out of control.
Roughly 24 hours after the fireplace started, the dimensions of the tragedy slowly grew to become clear – and the dying toll continued ticking up all through the next days.
Facing heavy stress from a grieving and indignant public, authorities have launched prison and anticorruption investigations, arresting eight extra individuals on Friday linked to the renovation challenge.
But for survivors and bereaved households, there could also be no reply that may ease the ache of what they’ve misplaced.