3 days ago
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Dozens of people have died in a huge, two-day fire that engulfed several residential tower blocks in Hong Kong, home to thousands of people. Many more are in a critical condition, and hundreds remain missing.
The fire was first reported at 2.52pm local time (0652 GMT) on Wednesday, at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in Tai Po, in the northern New Territories.
The exact cause of the fire remains unknown, but officials say it started on the external scaffolding of Wang Cheong House, before spreading to seven of the eight buildings in the densely packed complex. Many residents had their windows shut and did not hear the fire alarm.
As the fire raged, hundreds of people were evacuated from the complex of almost 2,000 apartments, which house about 4,800 residents, including many elderly people.
About 200 fire trucks and more than 100 ambulances were deployed to the scene.
Firefighters worked through Wednesday night but struggled to reach the top floors of the 31-storey towers, where many people were thought to be trapped. A 37-year-old firefighter is known to be among the dead.
Falling debris and the extreme heat of the blaze made it difficult for rescuers to access buildings. Officials said the complex had been undergoing maintenance.
The fire was able to spread quickly across bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the buildings.
Hong Kong is one of the last places in the world where bamboo is widely used for construction, and the local government has moved to start phasing it out, citing worker safety after 22 deaths involving bamboo scaffolders between 2019 and 2024.
From the mainland, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, urged authorities in Hong Kong to “make every effort” to extinguish the blaze and “offered sympathies to the families of the victims and those affected by the disaster”.
Police said that in addition to buildings being covered with protective mesh sheets and plastic that allegedly did not meet fire standards, windows on one unaffected building were sealed with a foam material, installed by a construction company carrying out maintenance work.
By Thursday morning, a number of apartments were still burning, although witnesses said the blaze had noticeably lowered in intensity.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, said more than 900 people had sought refuge at temporary shelters. He said the government would set up a HK$300m ($38.6m, £29.2m) fund to help residents.
Police have said the fire’s cause could have been a “grossly negligent” construction firm using unsafe materials.
