Name: Deadly fires in Hong Kong investigated: BBC Learning English from the News
Uploaded: 2026-01-16T17:04:32.000Z
Duration: 8 min 15 s
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From BBC Learning English this is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines in this program, Hong Kong Leader orders Investigation into Deadly Fires hello, I'm Beth.

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.

Authorities probe corruption and negligence in Hong Kong's Deadliest Fire in decades.

Authorities probe Corruption and Negligence in Hong Kong's Deadliest Fire in decades.

This headline is talking about the early investigations into the cause of the deadly fire.

Well, probe as a verb means to try to discover information by asking questions.

Often this is information that is difficult to find out or that somebody doesn't want to be known.

Yes, the headline also mentions corruption and negligence.

Corruption is illegal or dishonest behaviour by people or organizations with power.

And negligence means not giving enough care and attention to something.

So authorities are probing corruption and negligence.

That means they are asking lots of questions to find out whether powerful people might be to blame for the fire or for why it spread so quickly.

Yes, we often hear the verb probe in serious situations or where there are official investigations by the police or perhaps governments.

For example, an inquiry at a hospital could probe into unexplained deaths.

It just means a questioning of a person or organisation.

For example, police could launch a probe into organised crime.

We've had probe try to discover information by asking questions.

For example, the documentary will probe into the politician's private life.

This is Learning English from the News, our podcast about the news headlines.

Today we're Talking about the tower block fires in Hong Kong that have killed at least 151people.

This was Hong Kong's deadliest fire in more than 70 years and the death toll could rise further as officials continue to recover bodies.

More than a thousand other people were forced to evacuate the buildings as the flames spread.

People in Hong Kong are shocked and upset by the disaster.

Our next headline is about the response of local people.

Hong Kong Mourners Queue to Pay Respects after Deadly Typo Fire.

Hong Kong Mourners Queue to Pay Respects After Deadly Typo Fire.

This headline talks about mourners and mourners are people who are feeling or showing sadness about a death.

We're looking at the phrase pay respects.

Well, this is commonly used in English when we're talking about deaths and funerals.

If you pay your respects to someone who has died, you honour them, usually by going to their funeral or by bringing flowers.

This story is about people in Hong Kong coming to lay flowers near the tower blocks where 151 people died.

They are paying respects to the people that have died.

We sometimes also hear pay your last respects in this context, and

it means the same thing we've had pay respects, honour someone who's died, usually by attending their funeral or bringing flowers.

For example, lots of people came to pay their respects at the writer's funeral.

This is Learning English from the news from BBC Learning English.

We're talking about the investigation into the deadly fires in tower blocks in Hong Kong.

Now, as we've mentioned, Hong Kong's leader has ordered an independent inquiry into the fires, and

authorities believe that unsafe building materials on the towers helped the fire spread more quickly.

They've arrested several people, including the directors of a construction company.

But the Hong Kong police also arrested a man who created a petition asking for an independent inquiry into the fire.

According to local media reports, the online petition asking for an inquiry gathered more than 10,000 signatures in less than a day before its contents were deleted.

International organizations Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have criticized this arrest.

This one's from Al Jazeera, an international news organization.

China Cracks down on Calls for Accountability Over Deadly Hong Kong Blaze.

This headline is about China's response to calls for accountability over the fire.

If you call for accountability, you demand that the people who are to blame for something are identified and face consequences.

But could you explain this phrase cracked down on?

Beth well, if you crack down on something, you start dealing with it more seriously and harshly than you did before, right?

We often see cracked down on in stories about police and governments.

For example, police might promise to crack down on crime, or governments might say that they're going to crack down on antisocial behaviour.

In this headline, china Cracks down on Calls for Accountability.

This means China is dealing harshly with people who want to know who is to blame for the fire and see them punished.

For example, the man who started the online petition.

A crackdown just refers to the situation where someone starts dealing with something in a more serious and harsh way.

For example, the company launched a crackdown on safety in its factories after several accidents.

We've had crack down on something start dealing with something in a more harsh or serious way.

For example, in her election campaign, the politician promised to crack down on unemployment.

That's it for this episode of Learning English from the News.

We we'll be back next week with another news story.

Try the worksheet on our website to test what you've learned.

Com and you can also follow us on social media.