Hong Kong fire death toll rises to 128, scores missing

Hong Kong's anti-corruption body has arrested six more people as part of their investigation into the massive high-rise apartment complex fire, according to local media.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) has 8 people in custody in connection with the investigation, according to the South China Morning Post.

The publication reported that seven men and a woman, all between 40 and 63, are currently in police custody.

Two are reported to be project managers at the architectural firm overseeing renovations at Wank Fuk Court in Hong Kong's Tai Po district.

Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Chris Tang gave an update on what authorities believe caused the fire based on preliminary information. 

"Based on the preliminary information we have, we believe the fire started on the netting outside the lower floors... and quickly spread upward due to burning foam boards, affecting multiple floors," Tang told reporters. 

"The high temperature also caused the bamboo scaffolding and the protective netting to burn, and the bamboo sticks that were broken by fire fell down and spread the blaze to other floors," he added. 

At least 128 people are known to have been killed in a now extinguished fire at the Wang Fuk Court high-rise housing complex in Hong Kong. With hundreds more reported missing, that figure is expected to rise even more. 

Hong Kong authorities said fire alarms were not functioning properly at the fire-ravaged residential complex in the Tai Po district.

"We discovered that the alarm systems in eight buildings were malfunctioning... We will take enforcement actions against the contractors responsible," city fire service chief Andy Yeung said.

The announcement follows earlier reports that residents of Wang Fuk Court did not hear any alarms and had to go door to door to warn their neighbors of the fire.

"Ringing doorbells, knocking on doors, alerting the neighbors, telling them to leave — that's what the situation was like," a resident told the AFP news agency.

The fire began around midafternoon on Wednesday in one of the complex's eight towers, before rapidly spreading to surrounding buildings that were covered by bamboo scaffolding covered in construction netting.    

Hong Kong authorities say the death toll from the deadly apartment complex fire has now risen to 128 after more bodies were located.

A Hong Kong fire service official said smoke alarms in buildings engulfed in flames were "malfunctioning."

In the latest briefing, Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters that 79 people had been injured and that around 200 people were still unaccounted for.

"We will endeavor to force entry into all the units of the seven blocks concerned so as to ensure that there is no other possible casualties," Chan said.

The fire broke out in one building at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in the Tai Po district on Wednesday and then spread to other blocks, each housing apartments with more than 30 floors.

Authorities have launched an investigation to determine why the construction netting and bamboo scaffolding fixed to the buildings’ exteriors caught fire.

Hong Kong authorities said on Friday the death toll from one of the deadliest fires in the city's modern history had risen to at least 94.

More than 70 people were injured, including 11 firefighters, according to the city's Fire Services Department.

The exact number of those missing has not been updated since early Thursday, when authorities said some 250 people were unaccounted for.
 

Firefighters in Hong Kong have said they expect to wrap up rescue operations by 9 a.m. local time (1:00 a.m. GMT) on Friday, after the massive fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po.

The estate had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh when tragedy struck, claiming at least 83 lives and injuring 77 others, of which 12 are critically wounded.

Deputy fire services director Derek Chan told an early-morning Friday briefing that firefighters would focus on three calls for help that they received late on Thursday, out of 25 outstanding requests for assistance.

"At the same time, we'll endeavor to effect forcible entry to all the units of the seven buildings, so as to ensure there are no other possible casualties," he told reporters. 

Chan said after the operation is complete, they’ll be able to give a complete tally of the number of missing, which currently believed to be around 250 people.

Pope Leo XIV sent a message of condolences to one of the larger Catholic communities in China, saying he was saddened by the fire. 

In a telegram to Hong Kong's bishop, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, Leo sent "spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve."

The pontiff this week embarked on his first ecumenical foreign trip since taking office in May, traveling first to Turkey and then on to Lebanon. He was in the capital Ankara on Thursday for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but departed for Istanbul later in the day.

The Church estimates Hong Kong's Catholic population to be somewhere in the region of 600,000 people, almost 400,000 local residents and around 200,000 more non-permanent residents, the lion's share of them from the Philippines.

Hong Kong authorities said at around midnight local time (1600 GMT/UTC) that 83 people were known to have died in the city's deadliest fire since 1948. Roughly 250 people were still unaccounted for. 

Well over 24 hours after the fire broke out, flames were still visible in some of the eight-building apartment complex's almost 2,000 units. Firefighters continued spraying water at the charred structures, having largely doused the flames.

A government spokesman told the AFP news agency on Thursday evening that of those being treated in hospital, 12 were in a critical condition, 29 were listed as serious and 17 were stable.

Authorities in Hong Kong have revised the death toll from the deadly fire which swept through the Wang Fuk Court housing estate, confirming on Thursday evening (local time) that at least 75 people have died.

A 37-year-old firefighter and two Indonesians working as migrant domestic workers are reportedly among the dead.

Earlier, Hong Kong city chief executive said 279 people were still missing but firefighters said they had established contact with some of them, leaving around 250 people still unaccounted for.

Dozens of people were also being treated in hospital. A government spokesman told the AFP news agency that, as of Thursday, 12 were in a critical condition, 29 were listed as serious and 17 were stable.

Firefighters said that four fires had been extinguished and three were under control, with flames still visible in some of the eight-building housing estate's almost 2,000 units well over 24 hours after the fire broke out.

For the survivors who were safely able to evacuate the fires at the Wang Fuk Court, concerns remain about the fate of their homes and possessions — and loved ones who are still unaccounted for.

"When the fire started, I told her on the phone to escape," said Lawrence Lee, a resident who was waiting for news about his wife, who he believed was still trapped in their apartment. "But once she left the flat, the corridor and stairs were all filled with smoke and it was all dark, so she had no choice but to go back to the flat."

One distraught mother, who only gave her name as Ng, was searching for her daughter outside a shelter housing 900 residents, carrying her graduation photograph.

"She and her father are still not out yet," she sobbed. "They didn't have water to save our building."

Another 51-year-old resident surnamed Wan said she had bought an apartment in one of the buildings more than 20 years ago.

"All of our belongings were in this building and now it has all burned," she said. "What's left?"

Hong Kong authorities are yet to determine the precise cause of the devastating fire at the Wang Fuk Court estate, but the incident has shone a spotlight on the traditional use of bamboo scaffolding in the region.

Bamboo played a key role in architecture and construction in mainland China for centuries, reportedly even as far back as the building of the Great Wall. Cheap, abundant, flexible and strong, bamboo was also the material of choice for scaffolding in the former British colony of Hong Kong.

Nowadays, in mainland China, bamboo scaffolding has largely been replaced by sturdier — and flame-resistant — metal constructions. Hong Kong, however, still has around 2,500 registered bamboo scaffolding masters, according to official figures.

In March, Hong Kong's government said 50% of new public works contracts would be required to use metal scaffolding. But after 22 deaths involving bamboo scaffolders were recorded between 2019 and 2024, the reasoning was based more on worker safety than fire risk.

In October, a massive bamboo scaffolding caught fire at the Chinachem Tower in downtown Hong Kong. Fire consumed construction netting and bamboo poles, leaving windows burnt out and external walls badly seared, but the building suffered no major structural damage.

In a Facebook post, the Association for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims said there had been at least two other fires involving bamboo scaffolding in Hong Kong this year.

Hong Kong Labour Department's Code of Practice for Bamboo Scaffolding Safety states that protective nets, screens and tarpaulins or plastic sheeting installed on the face of scaffolding "should have appropriate fire retardant properties in compliance with a recognized standard."

Police in Hong Kong on Thursday searched the offices of the building maintenance company responsible for the Wang Fuk Court housing estate, seizing documents, employee lists, computers and mobile phones.

"We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties," said police superintendent Eileen Chung.

Investigations are still ongoing, but the police superintendent suggested that foam sealant around some windows on the unaffected eighth Wang Fuk Court building may fall short of fire safety standards, as might protective mesh and plastic coverings.

Two company directors and an engineering consultant working for an unspecified company have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.

The registered overall contractor for the complex, identified by Hong Kong's government as the Prestige Construction and Engineering Company Limited, has yet to comment.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said on Thursday that the government would establish a HK$300 million ($38.57 million, €33.3 millino) fund to help the residents of the Wang Fuk Court housing estate, which was engulfed in flames on Wednesday.

Lee said each housing unit would receive HK$10,000 ($1,285, €1,110) in immediate emergency funding on Thursday night and that the state would provide 1,000 rooms in hotels or youth hostels where residents can stay for up to two weeks.

He also said the authorities would conduct inspections of large renovation works in the city and that up to 100 contractors would be given seven days to submit proof of their use of fire-retardant materials.

The city's development bureau has also discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding across the city with metal scaffolding, Lee said.

The survivors and families of the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire in London in 2017 have sent a message of support to those affected by the blaze at Wang Fuk Court.

"Our hearts go out to all those affected by the horrific fire in Hong Kong," wrote the Grenfell United group on social media.

"We are thinking of every family waiting for news, mourning loved ones, or holding onto hope for those still missing. To the families, friends and communities, we stand with you. You are not alone."

Seventy-two people were killed when Grenfell Tower in the London borough of Kensington and Chelsea was engulfed by flames in 2017.