Hong Kong fire: rescue crews search apartment blocks for survivors; dozens killed and hundreds missing after blaze – follow updates | Hong Kong
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Summary
It’s 3pm in Hong Kong and in case you’re just joining us here’s a recap of the latest news on the devastating blaze at a residential block that has killed at least 44 people and left almost 300 missing.
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Firefighters were continuing to battle to reach residents who may be trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex on Thursday due to the intense heat and thick smoke from the fire.
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The death toll had reached 44, with 45 people in hospital in critical condition, authorities said on Thursday, making it the deadliest Hong Kong fire in decades. Hong Kong chief executive John Lee said some 279 people were uncontactable and 900 were in eight shelters.
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Police alleged that unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work may have been behind the rapid spread of the fire that erupted on Wednesday at a group of residential tower blocks in the city’s Tai Po district.
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The blaze looked to have largely burned out by Thursday afternoon. Authorities said earlier they had brought it under control in four blocks and operations were continuing in three.
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A taskforce has been set up to investigate the cause of the blaze. Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, alleged on Thursday: “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.”
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Three men from the construction company – two directors and one engineering consultant – had been arrested, Chung said, without giving further details.
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The fire is thought to have spread on bamboo scaffolding around the building and was likely aided by windy conditions. Police alleged the buildings were covered with protective mesh sheets and plastic that may not meet fire standards, and discovered some windows on one unaffected building were sealed with a foam material. The housing site – made up of eight 31-storey towers containing about 2,000 flats – was undergoing renovation work at the time of the fire.
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China’s leader Xi Jinping urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and to minimise casualties and losses, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said, as residents voiced anger online at the blaze’s possible causes.
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Several forums and campaign events related to 7 December elections that had been scheduled for the coming days have been cancelled.
Key events
Shares in China Taiping Insurance Holdings dropped as much as 8% on Thursday on concerns about its potential liability exposure to the fire-hit apartment complex.
According to publicly available minutes of meetings of registered owners of Wang Fuk Court, members approved the continuation of insurance coverage for the housing complex with China Taiping Insurance (Hong Kong) Ltd in December last year, Reuters is reporting.
The policy period runs from 1 January 2025 to 31 December 2026, the records show.
China Taiping Insurance Holdings and its unit China Taiping Insurance (Hong Kong) did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
Hong Kong to inspect all under-repair housing estates – leader
Hong Kong authorities will immediately inspect all housing estates undergoing major works after the deadly fire that ripped through the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex, says the city’s leader.
John Lee said in a Facebook post quoted by AFP on Thursday:
The government has immediately arranged for inspections of all housing estates across the city undergoing major repairs, to examine the safety of scaffolding and building materials.
Firefighters have been continuing to battle to reach residents who may be trapped on the upper floors of the Hong Kong housing complex due to the intense heat and thick smoke generated by the fire.
As our new full report on the disaster details, authorities say the death toll remains at 44, with 45 people in hospital in critical condition, making it the deadliest Hong Kong fire in decades.
By Thursday afternoon the fire appeared to have largely burned out. Earlier, authorities said they had brought the fire in four blocks under control and operations were continuing in three blocks.
The blaze has prompted comparisons to the Grenfell Tower inferno that killed 72 people in London in 2017. That fire was blamed on firms fitting the exterior with flammable cladding, as well as failings by the government and the construction industry.
The Grenfell United survivors’ group posted on X on Thursday:
Our hearts go out to all those affected by the horrific fire in Hong Kong. To the families, friends and communities, we stand with you. You are not alone.
You can see our full report from Helen Davidson and agencies here:
Hong Kong’s leader has said the city will inspect housing estates that are under repair in the aftermath of the fire, AFP is reporting.
We’ll bring you more on this soon.
Major donations to help with relief efforts after the Hong Kong fire are continuing to come in.
The latest include the Jack Ma Foundation pledging $HK30m ($3.9m) for aid to people affected and Chinese sportswear company 361 Degrees announcing $HK15m ($1.9m) in cash and supplies for the recovery.
TikTok owner ByteDance says it is donating $HK10m and Fuguiniao Group has pledged $HK15m in cash and equipment, Reuters is reporting.
As firefighters battled to find survivors in the flaming apartment complex overnight, another band of volunteers swung into action – to rescue the estate’s pets.
Reuters reports that dozens of workers from Hong Kong’s animal welfare agencies turned out with oxygenated pet carriers and animal ambulances to search for pets as media posts depicted elderly people weeping for animals they left behind in the rush to save human lives.
Some animal welfare workers carrying cages negotiated with police to allow them through cordons keeping out the public as fire raged in the complex on Thursday.
“Pet owners contacted our alliance and we compiled a list of more than 100 cases,” said Anson Cheng of the animal welfare group Hong Kong Guardians.
We shared the cases with firefighters so that they can help check the flats and pick up the pets if they see them.
Cheng said that as of Thursday morning, at least 10 cats, seven dogs and several turtles had been rescued.
Hong Kong’s system of micro-chipping dogs and cats meant it was possible that some survivors could be reunited with pets that escaped the blaze, he said.
More comments are emerging from people affected by the blaze as authorities continues operations in three of the four apartment blocks.
A woman surnamed Ng, 52, was distraught as she looked for her daughter outside a shelter.
“She and her father are still not out yet. They didn’t have water to save our building,” she said, sobbing and carrying her daughter’s graduation photo.
A long-time resident surnamed Chu said she still had not been able to contact her friends who lived in the next block. After staying at a friend’s place on Wednesday night, the 70-year-old woman came back to see her home still burning.
“We don’t know what to do,” she said.
Reuters also reports that an online app showed missing persons reports submitted through a linked Google document that detailed residents of individual towers and rooms.
It includes descriptions such as “Mother-in-law in her 70s, missing” or “one boy and one girl” or “Rooftop: 33-year-old male”. One description simply says “27th floor, room 1: He is dead”.
The news agency could not independently verify the information on the app.
Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has sent his condolences to Hong Kong over the fire.
“At this moment, let us pray for Hong Kong,” he posted on X Thursday.
I extend my deepest condolences to all my friends in Hong Kong who lost their lives in this disaster and to their families, and offer my sincere sympathies to the injured. I also hope that the missing will be found safely soon.
China’s sportswear company ANTA Group says it has donated HK$30m ($3.9m) in cash and equipment to support relief efforts around the Hong Kong blaze.
Chinese technology company Tencent says it has given HK$10m for emergency relief and resettlement of the fire’s victims.
Another Chinese tech company, Xiaomi, says it is donating HK$10m to the relief effort.
Reuters also reports China’s Red Cross as saying it is giving 2m yuan ($282,500) in support.
Visual guide to the HK blaze
We’ve just launched a visual guide – including graphics, maps, pictures and video footage – to show how the Hong Kong fire disaster unfolded.
As it describes, firefighters working through Wednesday night struggled to reach the top floors of the 31-storey towers where many people were thought to be trapped.
Falling debris and the extreme heat of the blaze made it difficult for rescuers to access the building and officials said that since the complex was undergoing maintenance, many residents kept their windows shut and did not hear the fire alarm.
The fire was able to spread quickly across bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the buildings.
By this morning the blaze had noticeably lowered in intensity but a number of apartments were still burning.
You can see the full visual explainer here:
HK police allege possible negligence over fire
Police have said the huge fire at the Hong Kong apartment complex may have been spread by unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work.
They said on Thursday that in addition to the buildings being covered with protective mesh sheets and plastic that might not meet fire standards, they discovered some windows on one unaffected building were sealed with a foam material, Reuters reports.
The highly flammable material had been installed by a construction company carrying out maintenance work, they said.
Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, said:
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.
Three men from the construction company – two directors and one engineering consultant – had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the fire, Chung said.
By Thursday morning, authorities said they had brought the fire in four blocks under control while operations were continuing in three blocks.
The green construction mesh and bamboo scaffolding used on the buildings are a mainstay of traditional Chinese architecture but have been subject to a phase-out in Hong Kong since March for safety reasons.
We’ve just launched a video report that includes how a police taskforce has been set up to investigate the cause of the fire at the Hong Kong apartment complex.
Authorities say three men aged 52 to 68 have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter connected to the blaze.
The report also has residents describing the fire, including one man who said his wife was missing. He said she tried 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.
See the video here:
Here are some fresh shots that have arrived from the fire scene in Hong Kong.
Circling back to the start of the fire, officials said it began on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings mid-afternoon on Wednesday and later spread inside it and then to nearby buildings, probably assisted by windy conditions.
Fire chiefs said the high temperatures at the scene made it difficult for crews to mount rescue operations. A column of flames and thick smoke rose as the blaze spread quickly on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the buildings.
Firefighters aimed water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks.
The blaze was upgraded to a level 5 alarm – the highest level of severity – as night fell. Firefighters deployed more than 200 fire vehicles and about 100 ambulances, the Associated Press also reported
“Debris and scaffolding of the affected buildings [is] falling down,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of Fire Service operations.
The temperature inside the buildings concerned is very high. It’s difficult for us to enter the building and go upstairs to conduct firefighting and rescue operations.
By early Thursday the blaze had been brought under control but firefighters are continuing to extinguish it entirely.
Noting now that while Hong Kong leader John Lee said early on Thursday that 279 people were unaccounted for, firefighters said later that they had established contact with some of them.
Lee said more than 900 people had sought refuge at temporary shelters.
A police officer at one of the shelters told AFP it was unclear how many people were unaccounted for because residents were still trickling in late into the night to report missing family members.
Among the 44 confirmed dead was a 37-year-old firefighter who was found with burns on his face half an hour after losing contact with colleagues, said fire service director Andy Yeung.
Residents describe ‘terrifying’ blaze spreading between buildings
More word here from residents of the Hong Kong neighbourhood where the fire broke out.
“I truly think it’s very scary. I am watching it spread from just one building to three, then four,” Veezy Chan, 25, said on Wednesday. “It’s really terrifying.”
Shirley Chan called the tragedy terribly sad. “Imagine a home – gone, burnt. Anyone would be heartbroken. I can relate to that; it’s truly heartbreaking.
A home, gone in flames. I can’t even put it into words.
Agence France-Presse also quoted a 65-year-old surnamed Yuen as saying his neighbourhood was home to many elderly residents who used wheelchairs and walkers, and the fire left him and his wife homeless.
He said that since the apartment complex was undergoing maintenance, many residents kept their windows shut, so they did not hear the fire alarm.
Residents also said they had never anticipated the flames would spread to other buildings with the wind and burn all night long.
Chan said she “watched the fire burn and couldn’t do anything”.
Here are two of the latest images coming in as Hong Kong firefighters continue work to fully extinguish the devastating blaze.
Photograph: Vernon Yuen/Nexpher/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
