No proof of arson but still no cause
After a week-long investigation by more than 200 crime-squad officers into last week's fatal blaze in a Mong Kok market street, police say there is no evidence to suggest the fire was an arson attack.
But arson had not been ruled out, police said yesterday, because laboratory tests on hundreds of items taken from the fire scene were not yet available.
One policeman said it would probably take government chemists at least one more week to complete all the tests. The tests will apparently focus on whether a fire accelerant, such as a flammable solution, was found among the charred debris.
Police were also investigating the theory that an electrical fault touched off the blaze, the officer said. An electrical fault could have ignited a hawker's stall and the wind might have spread the fire to booths on the other side of Fa Yuen Street.
'To prove this, we have checked with the Hong Kong Observatory on the direction of wind in the district at the time the blaze broke out,' the policeman said.
Some booths in the area stored combustible materials such as non-leather handbags and plastic products, which probably caused the fire to spread quickly, he said.
Local authorities were still collecting evidence at the fire scene yesterday. Police brought in Professor Ho Siu-lau, head of Polytechnic University's Department of Electrical Engineering, to investigate the city's deadliest fire in 15 years.
Superintendent Brian Lowcock of the Kowloon West regional crime unit said five badly burned electric switchboards had been seized from damaged hawker stalls for tests. But it was too early to conclude an electrical fault caused the blaze, he said.
As they investigate the possibility of arson, police are also helping the Coroner's Court prepare for an inquest into the deaths of nine people in the fire.
Police will finish collecting evidence from the scene today and will then consider reopening the area and the six blocks of flats affected by the disaster.
After the fire broke out last Wednesday, more than 200 detectives were deployed from the five Kowloon West regional crime units and three district crime squads from the Mong Kok, Yau Tsim Mong and Kowloon City police stations.
Many officers were needed because police had to carry out a criminal investigation, while preparing for a possible inquest, an investigator said.
Last night, five of the 34 people injured in the fire remained in hospital, three in critical condition and two in serious condition.
Meanwhile, one of the men whose images were captured by security cameras at the fire scene has come forward of his own accord to speak to police.
The man, 36, is seen dressed in white, walking in Fa Yuen Street at about the time the fire broke out in the early hours last Wednesday. He gave police 'valuable information', Lowcock said. 'The police now have a better picture in pinpointing when the fire happened.'
Yesterday, family members and hawkers took part in mourning rituals at the fire site, in memory of the victims.
The mother and family of fire victim Chen Xianxian were the first to appear at the scene yesterday morning, to mourn and burn paper money and incense. About 200 hawkers gathered at noon to pay their respects to the dead.
Of the four most badly damaged buildings, two had no fire safety systems or equipment, such as alarms and hoses, the Fire Services Department said.
Fire safety instructions were sent in 2009 to buildings 192-194, 196-198 and 200-206, and last year to building 188-190, instructing owners to update and install fire service equipment, the department's spokesman said. But buildings 188-190 and 196-198 still did not have them last week.
