One more person has been confirmed dead in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire, bringing the death toll to 161, the police chief has said, citing results of further forensic analysis.
“Further forensic tests found the DNA of another person in one of the bodies, identified as belonging to a couple. This means the death toll has increased to 161,” Commissioner of Police Joe Chow Yat-ming said on Saturday after a passing-out parade at the Hong Kong Police College.
“DNA tests are being carried out. We do not rule out the possibility that other deceased people may be found and the death toll may rise.”
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Chow also said that the six missing cases earlier reported had all been confirmed, including five killed in the fire and another one who died in 2023.
Police reached out to about 100 households of Wang Fuk Court earlier to give samples of their DNA to identify victims, where the worst inferno in more than seven decades broke out on November 26.
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All eight residential buildings at Wang Fuk Court – a government-subsidised Home Ownership Scheme estate built in the 1980s – had been covered in bamboo scaffolding and mesh nets during the renovations, while polystyrene foam boards were used to cover windows.