At least 55 dead and hundreds missing after fire engulfs Hong Kong tower blocks

At least 55 people have been killed in a huge fire that engulfed multiple high-rise buildings in Hong Kong – the city’s deadliest blaze in more than 70 years.

Some residents remain trapped inside the buildings, with more than 270 people unaccounted for.

Hundreds of firefighters have been tackling the blaze, which is now largely under control at all of the affected buildings at Wang Fuk Court. The housing complex had been undergoing extensive renovations when the fire began.

The exact cause is unclear but police say materials on outside of the buildings may have facilitated its spread. Three construction company executives have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and gross negligence.

The blaze broke out at 14:51 local time (06:51 GMT) on Wednesday, with flames and thick clouds of grey smoke seen billowing from the towers, dominating the city’s skyline.

By 18:22 local time, officials upgraded the fire to a level five – the most serious category.

Fifty-one people died at the scene, while four others died in hospital.

Firefighter Ho Wai-ho, 37, was among those killed in the blaze. He was found collapsed at the scene about 30 minutes after contact with him was lost.

“I am devastated,” 65-year-old Jason Kong told news agency Reuters. “I do not know what is going on anymore. Look, all the apartments are just burning. I do not know what to do.”

He said a neighbour had called him and said he was still trapped inside one of the tower blocks.

The fierce heat of the blaze, as well as dangerous debris and the risk posed from collapsing scaffolding, has hampered rescue efforts, but the fire department said it was not ruling out finding more injured people inside.

“The temperature inside the buildings concerned are very high, so it’s quite difficult for us to enter… and go upstairs to conduct firefighting and rescue operation,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, the deputy director of fire services.

Mesh material and plastic sheets which were found on the outside of the buildings are not believed to be fireproof, while Styrofoam was also found on the buildings’ windows.

These materials may have allowed the fire to spread faster, police said.

“We have reason to believe that those in charge at the company were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” a police spokesperson said.

Hong Kong’s Independent Commission Against Corruption has said it will launch a criminal investigation over the renovation works.

Fire safety expert Prof Jiang Liming, from Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said he believed the bamboo scaffolding connecting the apartment blocks may have also helped the fire grow.

Bamboo scaffolding is a common sight across Hong Kong – a city known for its high-rise buildings – and is widely used in construction.

Hong Kong’s chief executive John Lee said he had arranged inspections of “all housing estates undergoing major repairs” to check the “safety of scaffolding and building materials”.

He added that the government was considering a review of bamboo scaffolding and whether they should be replaced by metal frameworks.

“The government will stand united with all Hong Kong people, and we are confident that we will be able to get through this together,” he said.

Campaigning for the city’s Legislative Council election on 7 December has been suspended.

Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s northerly suburban Tai Po district was built in 1983 and consists of eight tower blocks providing 1,984 apartments for around 4,600 residents, according to a 2021 government census.

Nearly 40% of its residents are estimated to be at least 65 years old. Some have lived in the subsidised housing estate since it was built.

Some residents told local media that alarms did not sound when the fire began, and that they struggled to leave when the elevators stopped working.

Kiko Ma, 33, who has an apartment in the housing complex, told the BBC that some of the fire alarms had been turned off during the renovation, as construction workers regularly used fire escapes to enter and exit the buildings.

There were also reports on Wednesday night of blasts being heard from inside the buildings, and of fire hoses struggling to reach the upper levels of the 31-storey towers.

Police have evacuated nearby buildings, and several temporary shelters have been opened. One of the shelters, located across the road from the housing complex, was deemed unsafe as the fire raged, and evacuees were directed to another further away.

Outside one of the shelters, a woman was seen holding her daughter’s graduation photo as she searched for her family.

“She and her father are still not out yet,” the 52-year-old told Reuters. “They didn’t have water to save our building.”

An officer at a temporary shelter earlier told news agency AFP that it was unclear how many people were unaccounted for because residents were still trickling in late into the night to report missing family members.

As dawn broke on Thursday morning, small fires remained visible from the outside of the still-smouldering buildings. Meanwhile, people have been turning up with food and clothes for displaced residents.

Several well-known Chinese businesses have pledged donations to support relief efforts.

Alibaba Group, which owns e-commerce platforms Temu and Taobao, said it would give HK$20 million ($2.6m; £1.9m).

There is a large evacuation zone around the fire, roads are closed and more than 30 bus routes have been diverted, Hong Kong’s Transport Department says. Thirteen nearby schools have suspended lessons, education officials said.

China’s President Xi Jinping has expressed sympathy for the victims and urged that every effort be made to put out the fire and minimise the losses, state media reported.

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire on record happened in 1948, which killed 176 people and was caused by a ground-floor explosion at a five-storey warehouse.

Additional reporting by Tiffany Wertheimer and Hafsa Khalil