Death toll in Hong Kong high-rise fire has risen to at least 55
- On Nov 27, the Hong Kong fire department said at least 55 people died, including 51 at the scene and four in hospital, after a blaze struck Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Tai Po district.
- The blaze began just before 3pm on Wednesday and its exact cause remains unknown, though footage shows flames racing up external bamboo scaffolding and green protective mesh, with scaffolding at Wang Cheong House igniting first and polystyrene foam accelerating the spread.
- Investigators raided Prestige Construction & Engineering Company’s office, seizing bidding documents, employee lists, 14 computers and three phones while Hong Kong police arrested two directors and one engineering consultant on suspicion of manslaughter.
- The government said it will immediately inspect estates undergoing major works and has set up a HK$300m relief fund, as over 900 residents sought shelter and 61 are hospitalized.
- The tragedy has intensified debate over bamboo’s future, with Hong Kong’s Development Bureau ordering 50% metal scaffolding in public works and backlash over cultural heritage and job concerns for bamboo scaffolders and construction craft.
Most of the victims were found in two high-rise blocks in the eight-tower complex, deputy director of fire services Derek Armstrong Chan said.
He said firefighters found residents alive in several of the buildings, but gave no further details. The South China Morning Post reported one survivor was found on a stairwell.
Rescuers battled intense heat and thick smoke for more than a day to reach residents feared trapped on the upper floors.
Video showed firefighters with flashlights searching through the charred remains of the towers on Thursday night. Orange flames were still seen from inside several windows, though the whole complex was now largely a blackened ruin.
“We expect the fire to be fully put out tonight,” Chan said. “We’ll continue to douse water to lower the temperatures,” he added.
A distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said were housing 900 residents.
“She and her father are still not out yet,” said the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng, as she sobbed. “They didn’t have water to save our building.”
Resident Lawrence Lee was waiting for news about his wife, who he believed was still trapped in their apartment.
“When the fire started, I told her on the phone to escape. 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,” he said, as he waited in one of the shelters overnight.
Retiree Lau Yu Hung, 78, told The New York Times that he just happened to look out of a window and saw flames were already rising up the building next door.
He and his wife barely escaped their 19th-floor apartment in time. “Nobody warned us,” he said as he stood near the scorched building on Thursday night. “No alarm went off. We escaped by ourselves.”
Firefighters have been trying to control the flames since midafternoon Wednesday, when the fire was believed to have started in bamboo scaffolding and construction netting and then spread across seven of the complex’s eight buildings. Fires in four buildings had been effectively put out, with the remaining three towers under control, authorities said on Thursday afternoon.
Hong Kong police arrested the bosses of a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter over the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years.
They were two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm contracted to perform maintenance on the buildings. Police said those arrested were suspected of manslaughter for using unsafe materials.
“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,” police superintendent Eileen Chung said.
Police said they found foam material sealing windows on one unaffected building, installed in the year-long maintenance work. The city’s development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.
Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.
Police seized bidding documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid of the company’s office, the government added.
The confirmed death toll rose to 83 as of midnight in Hong Kong on Thursday, the South China Morning Post reported, citing the Fire Services Department. That made it Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.
More than 70 people were injured, including 11 firefighters, the department said.
