Hong Kong: Death toll rises to 159 in high-rise fire, including 1-year-old child

Hong Kong, Dec. 3 (LaPresse/AP) – The death toll from the fire that broke out in seven residential high-rises in Hong Kong has risen to 159. The youngest victim was a one-year-old child, according to police reports. The oldest was 97. Police said they had completed the search for bodies inside all seven buildings destroyed by the blaze, which broke out last Wednesday and was only extinguished on Friday. About 30 people are still missing. “We haven’t finished our work yet,” Police Commissioner Joe Chow told reporters, adding that officials would continue to sift through the piles of collapsed bamboo scaffolding to check for any remains or buried bodies. Nineteen of the 159 bodies found have not yet been identified. Among the victims of the fire are ten migrants who worked as domestic helpers in the residential complex, nine of whom were from Indonesia and one from the Philippines, as well as a firefighter.