Deadly fires in Hong Kong investigated

Learning English from the News

2025-12-03

8 分钟
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(Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images) ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Download a free worksheet ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ The story Hong Kong leader John Lee has ordered the creation of an independent committee to investigate the cause of a fire which killed at least 151 people. The fire spread quickly across seven residential high-rise tower blocks in Tai Po on Wednesday last week. Building work was happening on the tower blocks, and authorities have since said that the materials being used, such as netting on the outside of the towers, caused the fire to spread more quickly. At least 13 people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, including the directors of a construction company. News headlines Authorities probe corruption and negligence in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades AP News Hong Kong mourners queue to pay respects after deadly Tai Po fire Euronews China cracks down on calls for accountability over deadly Hong Kong blaze Al Jazeera Key words and phrases probe try to discover information by asking questions pay respects honour someone who has died, usually by attending their funeral or bringing flowers crack down on (something) start dealing with something more harshly or seriously Next  Find all our news programmes. Listen to BBC news reports and answer questions with The Listening Room. Read short-magazine style articles and answer questions with The Reading Room.
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  • From BBC Learning English, this is Learning English from the News,

  • our podcast about the news headlines.

  • In this programme, Hong Kong leader orders investigation into deadly fires.

  • Hello, I'm Beth and I'm Pippa.

  • In this program,

  • we look at one big news story and the vocabulary in the headlines that will help you understand it.

  • You can find all the vocabulary and headlines from this episode,

  • as well as a worksheet on our website, bbclearningenglish.com.

  • Okay, Pippa, let's hear more about this story.

  • Hong Kong leader John Lee has ordered the creation of an independent committee to investigate a fire which killed at least 151 people.

  • The fire spread quickly across seven high-rise residential tower blocks in the Taipo District of Hong Kong on Wednesday last week.

  • Building work was happening on the tower blocks,

  • and authorities have since said that the materials being used,

  • such as netting on the outside of the towers, caused the fire to spread more quickly.

  • At least 13 people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter,

  • including the directors of a construction company.

  • Simply put, manslaughter is the crime of killing a person without meaning to.

  • OK, let's have our first headline.

  • This comes from AP News.

  • Authorities probe corruption and negligence in Hong Kong's deadliest fire in decades.