Hong Kong officials have held a moment of silence at the start of a three-day mourning period to remember those killed after the city’s deadliest fire in nearly 80 years.
At least 128 people are now known to have died in the fire which engulfed several tower blocks on Wednesday. Hundreds remain unaccounted for.
Eight people have been arrested on suspicion of corruption over the renovation works the blocks had been undergoing.
Three others were detained earlier on manslaughter charges.
The Saturday morning ceremony was held outside government headquarters, and saw city leader John Lee joined by other Hong Kong officials to observe three minutes of silence.
The flags of China and Hong Kong were flown at half mast.
The government has also set up memorial points across the city, where the public can pay their respects and sign condolence books.
Once it started, the fire quickly spread to seven of the eight blocks of flats of Wang Fuk Court, with over 2,000 firefighters working to bring it under control across almost two days.
The cause of the fire has still not been determined, though authorities have said that polystyrene and protective netting placed on the outside of the windows facilitated its spread.
The tower blocks were also covered in bamboo scaffolding, which is commonly used in Hong Kong.
Officials have confirmed that an investigation will be taking place over the next few weeks, with police already gathering evidence from the scene.
Anger has spread throughout Hong Kong in the aftermath of the fire, with residents reporting broken fire alarms and negligence from the company carrying out the renovations on the Wang Fuk Court.
The Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) said that those arrested in the corruption probe on Friday included directors at an engineering company and scaffolding subcontractors.
Hong Kong’s Labour and Welfare Secretary, Chris Sun, told reporters that his department had made 16 checks on the works taking place at Wang Fuk Court since July last year.
Wang Fuk Court was built in 1983 and had provided 1,984 apartments for some 4,600 residents, according to a 2021 government census.
