Hong Kong police have said that their special unit found no bodies on Saturday after completing a search of two blocks of the Wang Fu Court residential complex, which was hit by a massive fire this week.
After conducting a sweep of Wang Tao House and Wang Yan House, the Police Disaster Victims Identification Unit (DVIU) rescued three cats and a tortoise but found no bodies, Assistant Commissioner of Police Lam Man-han said at a press conference on Saturday afternoon.
Following the search, the death toll remained at 128 as of 3pm on Saturday, said Chief Superintendent Tsang Shuk-yin of the police force’s casualty enquiry unit.
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak said at the same press briefing that around 150 residents were still unaccounted for – down from 200 reported on Friday.
Full search
More than 600 DVIU officers searched Wang Tao House and Wang Yan House, which were considered less severely affected by the fire and deemed structurally sound.
The full search of the seven apartment blocks affected by the fire may take three to four weeks, said Commissioner Lam.
“The police are also conducting investigations in the background. Once we have concrete developments, we will notify the public,” she said.
The blaze at Wang Fuk Court first broke out at Wang Cheong House on Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed six other residential towers in the housing complex. Only the eighth building, Wang Chi House, was not seriously affected by the inferno.
It was Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Hongkongers gathered at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Saturday to mourn the victims.
On Saturday afternoon, a long line of people, many holding bouquets of flowers, waited patiently in a park facing the now-charred buildings at Wang Fuk Court to pay tribute to the dead.
Some wept quietly, while others discussed the tragedy, still reeling from the losses.
Authorities arranged for the crowd to lay flowers and observe a moment of silence at designated areas near the housing estate.
Many families brought their children, with parents explaining the incident to their young ones.
Authorities ended the search for survivors on Friday, but the search for remains and the identification of casualties is ongoing.
Security chief Chris Tang said on Friday that police would not rule out the possibility that the death toll could rise if officers locate more bodies in the buildings. Of the 128 dead, 124 were found at the scene and four were pronounced dead in hospital.
Chief Superintendent Tsang said there was limited or incomplete information about 100 of the 150 missing residents, making police work challenging.
She said that some people who filed police reports gave only nicknames of the missing residents or had not been in contact with them for years, but added that the police would follow up on the reports.
Tsang also said that, following investigations, police had identified 84 of the deceased and 37 injured individuals who were previously unaccounted for.
Meanwhile, the remains of 44 people are still awaiting identification, down from 89 previously.
