NIGERIAN MILITARY JET CRASHES IN NIGER. (PHOTO).
HONG KONG, CHINA - The death toll from Hong Kong’s high-rise apartment fires climbed to 159 on Wednesday, with authorities reporting that a 1-year-old child was the youngest victim and a 97-year-old the oldest. About 30 people remained missing as officials continued recovery efforts.
Police have completed searches inside seven of the eight residential towers at Wang Fuk Court, where the fire erupted last Wednesday and took several days to extinguish. Commissioner of Police Joe Chow said teams would continue sifting through fallen bamboo scaffolding to check for any remaining bodies. The complex was undergoing extensive renovations with bamboo scaffolding and green netting in place. Authorities have arrested six people suspected of deactivating some fire alarms during maintenance work, amid a wider investigation into potential corruption and negligence in the renovations. Substandard scaffolding netting and foam boards on windows were cited as factors that allowed the fire to spread quickly. Among the deceased were 10 migrant domestic workers—nine from Indonesia and one from the Philippines—and a firefighter. Nineteen of the victims remain unidentified, and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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