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Hong Kong fire inquiry panel to deliver final report in late October
The judge-led committee behind the Wang Fuk Court case will submit its findings to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu about a month later than its earlier September target.
An independent, judge-led committee investigating the causes of Hong Kong’s deadly Wang Fuk Court blaze will delay its final report to late October, about a month later than expected, the South China Morning Post reported.
The panel said it needs additional time to organize evidence and review a large volume of documents and other newly collected material before submitting findings to Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu.
The committee was established in December, weeks after the inferno at Tai Po’s Wang Fuk Court killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 residents.
In its inquiry, which began March 19, the committee reviewed 1 million files and collected testimony from 80 witnesses, and during the process its lead counsel attributed the disaster’s cause to human factors while also pointing to systemic regulatory failures and suspected fraudulent acts by contractors, according to the report.