Fire in Hong Kong high-rise complex kills at least 94 people, hundreds reported missing; 3 arrested

Police in Hong Kong have arrested three people at a construction company on suspicion of murder in connection with a fire that killed at least 94 people and left hundreds more missing in the city’s worst blaze in years.

The city fire services said the fire that broke out on Wednesday afternoon spread to seven of the complex’s eight buildings, although the blaze in four towers was brought under control by morning.

Officials said at least 70 people, including 11 firefighters, were injured, many of whom suffered burns and smoke inhalation. About 900 people were evacuated to temporary shelters overnight.

Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung said one firefighter was among the dead and the 37-year-old man had been a firefighter for nine years. “All of our colleagues are deeply saddened by the loss of such a dedicated comrade,” he said in a news release.

As firefighters struggled for a second day to extinguish the blaze, rescuers carrying flashlights moved from apartment to apartment in the charred towers as thick smoke billowed from some windows at the Wang Fuk Court complex, a dense cluster of buildings housing thousands of people in Tai Po district, a northern suburb near Hong Kong’s border with the mainland.

Officials said firefighters were still working on some apartments and trying to enter all units of the seven towers to ensure there were no more casualties.

“Our firefighting operation is almost complete,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of fire service operations. “Firefighters are working hard to prevent debris and embers from igniting. Search and rescue operations are underway,” he said.

It was not clear how many people remained missing or trapped. Hong Kong leader John Lee said contact with 279 people had been lost early Thursday. Officials did not provide an update on the number of missing or how many people were still inside damaged buildings during a news conference Thursday.

Video shows rescue workers searching some apartments in the dark. Orange flames were still visible from inside many of the windows, although the entire complex was now largely a black ruin.

It was not immediately known how the fire started, but officials said the flames started on exterior scaffolding on one of the buildings, a 32-story tower, and later spread inside the building and then to nearby buildings, possibly due to windy conditions.

The massive fire created a mass of flames and thick smoke that spread across the bamboo scaffolding installed on the exterior of the complex. Live video from the scene showed firefighters aiming water at the intense flames from trucks with high ladders as the sky went dark, smoke billowed from windows and red-hot embers fell to the ground.

Fire chiefs said high temperatures at the scene made it difficult for crews to carry out rescue operations.

Officials suspect that some materials on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, as the rapid spread of the fire was unusual.

Police also said they found highly flammable foam material outside windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of an unaffected tower, which was believed to have been installed by a construction company.

Senior Superintendent of Police Eileen Chung said, “We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were acting with gross negligence.” The three arrested, aged between 52 and 68, are the firm’s director and an engineering consultant.

The fire service department said the fire was first reported in mid-afternoon and by nightfall it was upgraded to a level-5 alarm, the highest level of severity.

Fire brigade personnel deployed more than 140 fire engines and more than 60 ambulances at the scene.

Police said they received several reports of people trapped in affected buildings. Records show that the residential complex consisted of eight blocks containing approximately 2,000 apartments housing approximately 4,800 people. It was built in the 1980s and recently extensively renovated.

Tai Po District Council member Lo Hiu-fung told local TV station TVB on Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were elderly people.

“Nearby residents please stay indoors and close doors and windows and remain calm and avoid areas affected by fire incidents,” the Hong Kong Fire Service Department wrote on Facebook.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed condolences to the slain firefighters and sympathized with the families of the victims, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Tai Po is a suburban area in the northern part of Hong Kong and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The fire is the worst in Hong Kong in years. In November 1996, 41 people died in a Level 5 fire at a commercial building in Kowloon that lasted about 20 hours.