Search continues for hundreds lost in Hong Kong tower fire as dozens killed

Rescue workers in Hong Kong are continuing the search for the hundreds of people still believed to be lost in an apartment complex fire.

So far, a total of 94 people are known to have died, and more than 70 people were injured, according to the city’s Fire Services Department.

The fire started on Wednesday at Wang Fuk Court in the Tai Po district, meaning firefighters are on their third day of rescue efforts.

A missing person notice near the fire scene at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district. / Credit: AP

The final search of the buildings is expected to be completed later on Friday, at which point officials have said they will officially end the rescue phase of their operation.

It was unclear how many people could be inside the buildings, which had almost 2,000 apartments and some 4,800 residents.

Seven of the eight 32-storey towers in the complex were on fire after construction materials and bamboo scaffolding helped the fire to spread.

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The fires are now largely under control, and firefighters were able to inspect each individual flat to check for survivors, but windy conditions and high temperatures hampered rescue efforts and prevented the use of helicopters.

Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said on Wednesday that contact had been lost with 279 people.

The hundreds of survivors who were evacuated or were outside the buildings at the time the fire started were staying in temporary shelters, including a nearby school.

Workers were distributing bottled water, food and other necessities. Volunteers were bringing supplies such as water and snacks.

Three men, the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Police have not released any further details about where they work or their identities.

Bamboo scaffolding has been used in construction in Asia for more than a thousand years, and bamboo poles are seen as easier to install and remove from the kinds of tight spaces found in a city as densely populated as Hong Kong.

Bamboo scaffolding-related accidents have caused 23 deaths since 2018, according to the Construction Industry Council.

The aftermath of the fire at the Wang Fuk Court high-rise apartment complex. / Credit: AP

Police also said they found plastic foam panels, which are highly flammable, attached to the windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of the one unaffected tower.

Officials are investigating why the scaffolding and other construction materials used in renovations to the exteriors of the buildings caught fire.

The fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. In November 1996, 41 people died in a commercial building in Kowloon in a fire that lasted for around 20 hours.