Devastating Hong Kong Apartment Fire Claims 128 Lives, Search Operations Continue
Firefighters conduct apartment-by-apartment searches after massive blaze tears through seven buildings in one of the city's deadliest disasters in decades.
Hong Kong firefighters continued their meticulous search through a residential tower complex on Friday, going door-to-door in the hunt for more victims after a catastrophic fire swept through seven of its eight buildings, claiming at least 128 lives.
The tragedy has become one of the deadliest fires in Hong Kong’s recent history, leaving the community in shock and authorities scrambling for answers.
Prioritizing High-Risk Areas
Deputy Director Derek Armstrong Chan of Hong Kong Fire Services explained that rescue teams are focusing their efforts on apartments where residents made desperate calls for help during the fire but couldn’t be reached in time. More than two dozen such calls were logged during the height of the blaze.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang warned that the death toll, which rose to 128 by Friday afternoon, could climb even higher as the search continues through the scorched remains of the buildings.
How the Fire Spread So Quickly
The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon in one of the eight towers at the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po district, a northern suburb near the border with mainland China. What started in a single building rapidly became a nightmare scenario.
Bamboo scaffolding wrapped in netting, installed as part of ongoing renovation work, acted as a highway for the flames. The fire leaped from building to building with alarming speed, eventually consuming seven of the complex’s eight towers.
It took over 1,000 firefighters nearly 24 hours of non-stop work to bring the massive blaze under control. Even two days later, smoke continued drifting from the charred structures as small fires occasionally flared up.
The Scale of the Disaster
The affected complex is home to nearly 2,000 apartments and housed approximately 4,800 residents. Many of the residents were elderly, and the buildings dated back to the 1980s.
More than 70 people were injured in the fire, including 11 firefighters who were hurt while battling the flames. Around 900 displaced residents have been provided temporary shelter.
Chan noted that most casualties occurred in the first two buildings that caught fire, and that many of the priority search areas are on higher floors where the fire took longest to extinguish.
Investigation Underway
Authorities are now investigating what went wrong. Three men directors and an engineering consultant from a construction company have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Police believe company leaders may have been grossly negligent in their duties.
While police haven’t officially named the firm, the Associated Press confirmed that Prestige Construction & Engineering Company was responsible for the renovation work. Officers have seized boxes of documents from the company, whose offices remained largely unresponsive on Thursday.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency announced it is also investigating possible corruption related to the renovation project.
Safety Standards Under Scrutiny
Initial investigations suggest that some exterior wall materials may not have met proper fire resistance standards, which could explain the fire’s unusually rapid spread between buildings.
In a concerning discovery, police found highly flammable plastic foam panels attached near elevator lobbies in the one tower that escaped the fire. The purpose of these panels, believed to have been installed by the construction company, remains unclear.
In response to the disaster, authorities have announced immediate safety inspections of all housing estates currently undergoing major renovations to verify that scaffolding and construction materials meet proper safety standards.
A Historic Tragedy
This fire ranks among the worst in Hong Kong’s history. The last comparable tragedy was in 1996, when a commercial building fire in Kowloon killed 41 people. The city’s deadliest fire on record occurred in 1948, when a warehouse blaze claimed 176 lives, according to the South China Morning Post.
Officials expect to complete the final search of all affected buildings later Friday, at which point they will officially transition from rescue to recovery operations.
