Three arrested after predawn blaze damages more than 40 vehicles in Hong Kong housing estate car park
Culprits set seven-seater alight with flammable solution and fire spread to other cars, source says
Three men were arrested on Wednesday after more than 40 vehicles were damaged in a predawn arson attack on a multi-storey car park at a Hong Kong public housing estate.
Police said more arrests were possible.
A police source said it seemed the perpetrators targeted a seven-seater car, using a flammable solution to set it alight, but the blaze spread, causing damage to other vehicles.
Fire engines and an ambulance were called in at 5.17am after the incident on the first floor of the car park at King Lam Estate on Po Lam Road North, Tseung Kwan O was reported.
A government spokesman said firefighters used two jets and doused the flames at 6.40am. No one was injured and no evacuation was needed.
The three men, aged 22 to 47, were arrested in different areas of Tseung Kwan O later the same day, in connection with the attack.
Police said 26 vehicles were damaged, and another 27 blackened by smoke.
Two hours before the arson, in an incident police suspected was linked to it, a 24-year-old woman was attacked by two knife-wielding men on Sheung Tak Estate, Tseung Kwan O, at about 3.20am. She injured her head and limbs, and was stated as critical in Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Wednesday night.
A car believed to be connected the the earlier attack was found torched on Shing Kai Road in Kowloon City.
Police believed the incidents were connected to infighting within triad gang Sun Yee On and that it was the attack which triggered the arson.
The three men were held for questioning.
