HONG KONG (AP) — Firefighters battled a fire at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong for a second day Thursday as the death toll rose to 83 in one of them. the deadliest fires in the city’s modern history.
Rescue workers with flashlights went from apartment to apartment near charred towers as thick smoke billowed from some windows in the Wang Fuk Court complex, a dense cluster of buildings housing thousands of people in Tai Po, a northern suburb near Hong Kong’s border with the mainland.
Officials said firefighters are still working on several apartments and trying to get to all units in the seven towers to ensure there are no more casualties.
“Our firefighting operation is almost complete,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of fire operations. Firefighters were working hard “to prevent debris and embers from igniting. A search and rescue operation follows,” he added.
It was not clear how many people remained missing or trapped. Hong Kong leader John Lee said 279 people had lost contact early Thursday. Authorities did not provide an update on the number of missing people or how many are still inside the ravaged buildings during a news conference Thursday.
The video showed rescuers searching some apartments in the dark. Orange flames could still be seen from a few windows, though the entire complex was now largely a blackened ruin.
Firefighters have been trying to bring the flames under control since midday Wednesday, when the fire is believed to have started in bamboo scaffolding and construction mesh before spreading to seven of the complex’s eight buildings.
Chan said the fire spread “extremely quickly” through the towers and rescuers were struggling to get inside.
“Debris and scaffolding were falling from the upper floors,” he told reporters. “There are also other reasons such as high temperature, darkness… (and) the access of emergency vehicles was blocked by fallen scaffolding and debris, which made it very difficult for us to access the building.”
More than 70 people were injured, including 11 firefighters, the fire department said. About 900 people were evacuated to temporary shelters overnight.
Pope Leo XIV sent a telegram to Hong Kong’s bishop on Thursday saying he was saddened by the fire and praying for the injured, their families and emergency workers.
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 run. But as soon as she left the apartment, the hallway and the stairs were full of smoke and everything was dark, so she had no choice but to go back to the apartment,” he said as he waited in one of the shelters overnight.
Winter and Sandy Chung, who lived in one of the towers, said they saw sparks flying around as they evacuated Wednesday afternoon. Although they were safe, they feared for their home. “I couldn’t sleep all night,” Winter Chung, 75, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Three men, directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, were arrested on suspicion of murder. The police did not directly state the company where he works.
“We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent,” said Eileen Chung, a senior police officer.
Police on Thursday also searched the office of Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, which the AP confirmed is in charge of renovations at the tower complex. Police seized the boxes of documents as evidence, according to local media. Phones for Prestige rang unanswered.
Authorities suspected that some materials on the high-rise’s exterior walls did not meet fire-resistance standards, allowing the fire to spread unusually quickly.
Police also said they found plastic foam panels – which are highly flammable – attached to windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of one unaffected tower. It is believed to have been installed by a construction company, but the purpose was unclear. Security Minister Chris Tang said they would investigate the materials further.
The the apartment complex consisted of eight buildings with almost 2000 apartments for approx. 4800 inhabitants, including many elderly people. It was built in the 1980s and underwent extensive renovation. Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency said Thursday it was launching an investigation into possible corruption related to the renovation project.
Officials said the fire started on the exterior scaffolding of the 32-story tower, then spread on bamboo scaffolding and construction mesh to the interior of the building and then to other buildings, possibly aided by windy conditions.
Bamboo scaffolding is common in Hong Kong for building construction and renovation projects, although Lee said officials will meet with industry representatives to discuss the switch to metal scaffolding amid safety concerns.
“Although we know that bamboo scaffolding has a long history in Hong Kong, its fire retardancy is worse than that of metal scaffolding. For safety reasons, the government believes that the full transition to metal scaffolding should be implemented in suitable working environments,” said Eric Chan, Chief Secretary for Administration.
Authorities will also carry out an immediate inspection of all housing estates undergoing major reconstruction to ensure that scaffolding and building materials meet safety standards.
The fire was Hong Kong’s deadliest in decades. In November 1996, 41 people died in a fire that lasted about 20 hours in a commercial building in Kowloon.
Wu was reporting from Bangkok. Researcher Shihuan Chen in Beijing and writer Sylvia Hui in London contributed to this report.
