Hong Kong charges 7 people and 2 firms over massive fire that killed 168

2026-06-10 20:34 Last Updated At：06-11 16:20

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday charged seven people and two building companies with offenses including manslaughter and conspiracy to defraud over the city's deadliest fire in decades.

The massive blaze engulfed seven apartment buildings and killed 168 people on Nov. 26, 2025. Former residents and relatives of the dead have been waiting for answers for months after the fire shattered the close-knit community of Wang Fuk Court, which housed thousands of people in the suburban district of Tai Po.

In a statement on Wednesday, authorities said police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption charged the suspects with 25 counts including money laundering, attempting to pervert the course of public justice and tax evasion.

The two companies charged are consultancy firm Will Power Architects Company, and Prestige Construction & Engineering Co., the main contractor involved in a major renovation project at Wang Fuk Court that was taking place when the blaze happened.

The seven defendants played different roles in the renovation works, authorities said. They included the directors of the two companies and a registered inspector of Will Power.

The defendants told the court they understood the charges, and most appeared calm. Lists of victims’ names were read out from the charge sheets in court — the first such disclosure to the public. The hearing will resume in September.

Senior police superintendent Basil Tang told reporters that they found the people in charge of the renovation project and the relevant companies were seriously negligent in monitoring the materials used in the project and the procedures involved. Tang pointed to issues such as the use of non-fire-retardant scaffolding netting and foam boards.

“The above work arrangements are suspected of seriously affecting the building’s fire safety, causing the fire to spread rapidly, and also obstructing escape routes, resulting in massive casualties,” he said.

Hazel Law, principal investigator of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, said they would not rule out further law enforcement operations.

“We suspect that some people, for their own personal gain, not only failed to fulfill their professional responsibilities, but even used suspected corrupt practices, fraud and other illegal acts to achieve their purposes,” Law said.

Tang said Will Power directors Ng Yeuk and Wong Hap-yin, Prestige director Ho Kin-yip, alongside the two companies, were charged with manslaughter.

The companies and some of the defendants were also charged with conspiracy to defraud.

In one of the fraud allegations, authorities alleged that the two companies and some defendants conspired together to defraud the apartment owners of Wang Fuk Court by concealing previous litigation records of Prestige and inflating the score given to the firm in a tender analysis report.

That eventually led to Prestige being awarded the renovation project at a contract worth more than 300 million Hong Kong dollars (over $38 million), they said.

Their alleged wrongdoings went beyond the Wang Fuk Court. Authorities also alleged some of the accused conspired together to defraud the government by falsely claiming that the registered inspector of Will Power had carried out his duties in inspecting and supervising 86 building maintenance projects.

Tang on Wednesday said police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption arrested 35 people when they looked into the cause of the fire and potential corruption issues involving the renovation project.

Rescuers keep searching for 3 people after a boat sank in San Francisco Bay, killing 1

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — U.S. Coast Guard crews combed a massive area for three people missing nearly a day after a boat carrying 20 family members and friends as part of a memorial service capsized in the cold, choppy waters of San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island, authorities said Wednesday.

U.S. Coast Guard Captain Jared S. Toczko said rescuers have cumulatively scoured 950 square nautical miles (3,260 square kilometers) and will continue searching until sundown Wednesday before ending rescue efforts.

Toczko would not dismiss the possibility that those missing could still be alive, though he also said some could have been trapped inside the three-deck, 49-foot (15-meter) cabin cruiser.

“We do know individuals were in the main deck and potentially below deck," he said.

One person was pulled from the water but later died, and 16 others were rescued Tuesday afternoon after the boat took on water, listed heavily to one side and then rolled over before sinking, Toczko said.

The passengers on board were all close friends and family members, he said. A dog also died.

Crews have identified the location the boat sank but have yet to determine how deep it sank, Toczko said.

Once the boat is located, officials will send either divers or an underwater drone to determine if it's feasible to salvage it, said San Francisco Police Commander Brien Hoo. If the boat is under 120 feet (37 meters) of water, it would be difficult for divers to get to it, he said.

Witnesses reported “rough seas,” San Francisco Fire Department Chief Dean Crispen said, and rescuers said swells reached up to 5 feet (1.5 meters). Marine weather conditions, however, didn't warrant a small craft advisory from the National Weather Service.

Fire department spokesperson Lt. Mariano Elias said the vessel, named Volare, was registered out of Stockton, California, which sits at the eastern edge of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Tockzo said there were life jackets onboard the boat and that some people were rescued wearing them, though witnesses said several people were in the water without them.

Kirk Miller, an experienced local sailor with a master mariner license, said an uneven distribution of passengers could have caused the Volare to tip.

“As it rocks in the waves, it leans over a little bit,” Miller said. “And as it leans over, the stability would decrease. If you had weight down below it acts as ballast. There was nothing in the conditions that were extreme in any regard. There was no massive gust of wind, no huge wave.”

Two rescuers who jumped into action while fishing for halibut said the boat that sank was more than capable of being out in the bay. Justin Marceline and Michael Montoya said they saw what they thought was smoke and arrived to find the vessel halfway submerged.

“We just started yanking people out,” Marceline told The Associated Press. At least two people bobbed in the water without life jackets, while others clung to a windsurfer’s board.

Marceline could see people trapped inside the rapidly sinking boat through its windows. He threw lead fishing weights to survivors in the water, hoping they could smash the glass, but they were too weak.

“It was like Titanic in real life,” he said. “There was stuff everywhere. People were banging on the glass.”

Montoya estimated they pulled eight or nine people aboard, including the captain, before first responders arrived.

Initial callers reported what appeared to be smoke coming from the boat, but San Francisco police officers who first reached the vessel said it was steam.

Sudden immersion in water under 60 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius) can lead to cold water shock, a condition where people lose dexterity in minutes. That can be dangerous or deadly when trying to escape a sinking watercraft.

The person who died was identified as Clifford Boisa, 79, from rural Sutter County in the Sacramento Valley, the San Francisco medical examiner said.

The owners of the boat are John Boisa and Miriam Boisa of Stockton, Coast Guard records show. They did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment.

Boisa declined to answer questions from reporters about the victims or why they were on the boat.

“All of us are grieving during this time,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle.

A Coast Guard cutter named the Barracuda, other vessels and a fixed-wing aircraft were involved in the search, U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Petty Officer Kenneth Wiese said. Teams were using thermal imaging, tide prediction and modeling to guide their efforts, the fire department said.

The boat departed a San Francisco marina, passed under the Golden Gate Bridge twice and visited Angel Island State Park, the largest natural island in the bay. It was on its way back to San Francisco when it sank near Alcatraz, according to the ship-tracking website VesselFinder.

“The wind was coming underneath the Golden Gate and blowing toward Alcatraz,” said Lt. Joseph England of the Richmond Police Department, who responded to the scene. “If you have a smaller vessel and you don’t know what you’re doing and you’re hitting those swells sideways, it can lead to disaster.”

The maximum-security federal prison at Alcatraz Island, which closed more than 60 years ago, was infamously inescapable due to the chilly waters and strong currents that surround "The Rock.” It is now a popular tourist attraction, about a mile (1.6 kilometers) off San Francisco.

Associated Press writers Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Ed White in Detroit; Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles; and photographer Noah Berger in San Francisco contributed to this story.