Tai Po fire hearing: government rejects assertions surveyors, contractor conspired

A lawyer for the Hong Kong government has rejected “groundless” assertions that its surveyors conspired with a renovation contractor at the centre of the city’s deadliest fire in decades to conceal flammable materials used at the site, suggesting the firm did not have enough time to plan a deception before a crucial inspection.

“The government bears unshirkable responsibility. It has to learn the lesson and prevent similar tragedies from happening again,” Suen told a judge-led independent committee investigating the disaster.

A government spokesman said late in the evening that the administration had made a full disclosure, with nothing withheld, regardless of whether the circumstances or evidence were favourable or unfavourable to its departments.

Authorities also urged all sectors of the community to remain patient, allowing the committee to conduct its hearings objectively and in a fair, just and transparent manner, and to determine the causes of the fire and the resulting heavy casualties based on all relevant evidence.

Three survivors also recounted their ordeal in the third session of the public inquiry, saying they saw workers regularly smoking at the site while it was undergoing renovation in the lead-up to the inferno.

One of them, Harry Leung Ho-hin, said outside the hearing the fire was “man-made” and avoidable, attributing the high death toll to a lack of communication between government departments and a tendency among officials to “pass the buck” instead of taking proactive responsibility.