6 more arrests in Hong Kong blaze

The death toll from Hong Kong’s high-rise apartment blaze rose to 159 on Wednesday, as authorities arrested six people on suspicion of deactivating some fire alarms during maintenance work at the housing complex.

- ASSOCIATED PRESS

TOMMY WANG AFP/Getty Images

PAPER CRANES are hung on strings during a vigil held outside the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex.

The youngest person who died in the fire was a 1-year-old, police said. The oldest was 97.

Police said they have completed a search for bodies inside all seven of the high-rise residential towers ravaged in the fire that first broke out a week ago and took more than 40 hours to be extinguished. About 30 people were still reported missing.

“We have not finished our work yet,” Commissioner of Police Joe Chow told reporters, adding that officials found suspected human bones in different apartments and would attempt DNA testing to identify them.

Officials will also continue to search through piles of fallen bamboo scaffolding to check if any remains or bodies were buried there, he said.