As Hong Kong toll rises, 8 more arrested

Hong Kong firefighters found dozens more bodies Friday in an intensive apartment-by-apartment search of a high-rise complex where a massive fire engulfed seven buildings, and authorities arrested eight more people involved in the towers’ renovation.

- BY DAVID RISING AND CHAN HO-HIM

LEUNG MAN HEI Bloomberg

A FIREFIGHTER in front of the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Hong Kong on Friday.

The death toll in one of the city’s deadliest blazes rose to 128, and many remain unaccounted for.

First responders found that some fire alarms in the complex, which housed many older people, did not sound when tested, said Andy Yeung, the director of Hong Kong Fire Services, though he did not say how many were not working or if others were.

The blaze jumped rapidly from one building to the next as foam panels and bamboo scaffolding covered in netting apparently installed by a construction company caught fire.

Authorities on Friday arrested seven men and one woman, including scaffolding subcontractors, engineering consultant company directors and project managers, the Independent Commission Against Corruption said in a statement.