Tai Po fire death toll rises to 146 as search for missing continues

The death toll had risen to 146 from the devastating blaze in Tai Po, police said in a media briefing today.

There were 23 bodies initially found at the building that had not yet been removed, said Tsang Shuk-yin, officer in charge from the force’s Casualty Enquiry Unit.

The number of injured remains at 79, while 159 residents have been confirmed safe.

Tsang said 92 of the deceased and 37 of the injured matched entries on the missing-person list.

The police’s Disaster Victim Identification Unit launched operations in Wang Shing House, Wang Kin House and Wang Tai House today and found 18 bodies in stairwells, rooftops and other locations in the three blocks.

However, 100 missing-person cases could not be traced, and officers are still attempting to follow up on more than 40 additional reports of people listed as missing.

“In some cases, the informants only provided very limited or insufficient information. Some missing persons are confirmed not Wang Fuk Court’s residents, while some informants cannot tell whether missing persons are still residents, as they have not been liaising for a long time,” Tsang said.

The overall structural integrity of all Wang Fuk Court’s buildings poses no immediate danger, said Leung Hung-wai, deputy director of the Housing Department.

Leung said the second phase of inspection will be launched to extract concrete core samples to evaluate the building structure, once the preliminary inspection on Wang Sun House and Wang Cheong House is completed.