Rescue operations at Hong Kong apartment complex ‘almost complete’, as death toll reaches 128
The death toll from the Hong Kong apartment complex fire that began on Wednesday has risen to 128 with as many as 200 missing, officials have said, as rescue operations were declared over.
Firefighters were combing through the high-rises on Friday morning, attempting to find anyone alive after the massive fire that spread to seven of eight towers in one of the city’s deadliest ever blazes.
Throughout the morning more people arrived at the Kwong Fuk Estate community center, adjacent to Wang Fuk Court, to identify the bodies being pulled from the gutted buildings. Few names of the dead have been released to the public yet
Rescue crews were prioritizing apartments from which they received more than two dozen calls for assistance during the fire but were unable to reach, Derek Armstrong Chan, a deputy director of Hong Kong Fire Services had told reporters.
“We’ll endeavor to effect forcible entry to all the units of the seven buildings, so as to ensure there are no other possible casualties,” Chan added.
The blaze that began on Wednesday afternoon, spread quickly through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po. The eight-tower estate housing more than 4,600 people had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh which is thought to have allowed the fire to spread.
By Friday morning the blazes had been mostly contained, although authorities said some apartments were still on fire and they wanted to prevent them from spreading and reigniting other parts of the building.
Most of the dead were found in two of the seven towers that caught fire, and most survivors were pulled from the others. The number of missing had not been updated since early Thursday when it was more than 250.
Police and corruption authorities are investigating the cause of the fire. Three people from a construction company involved in the years-long renovation of the complex were arrested.
Officials have focused on the bamboo scaffolding surrounding the building, as well as the green mesh that covered it, and the highly flammable styrofoam that authorities have since discovered was used in elevator window coverings on every floor.
“There’s no law stipulating that flame-retardant materials must be used,” Lee Kwong-sing, the chair of Hong Kong Institute of Safety Practitioner said, according to the state broadcasting service RTHK.
“It is merely stated in the codes of practice by the Labour Department, so many people may not follow the requirements as it is not illegal. But if you turn such codes into a mandatory requirement … then that’ll be another story altogether.”
Source : https://www.theguardian.com/news/2025/nov/28/hong-kong-apartment-fire-response-rescue-operations-death-toll |
