Three men have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter after the deadly fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district, where at least 36 people have died and about 279 are still missing.
Police say the men have been detained in connection with the blaze, with more details to come at a dedicated press briefing.
What happened at Wang Fuk Court?
The fire broke out on Wednesday afternoon local time and quickly escalated, burning across seven of the estate’s eight apartment towers before nightfall. Authorities classed it as a level five alarm — the city’s highest alert — as bright flames and thick smoke poured from windows and residents called for help.
Wang Fuk Court is a government‑subsidised housing complex in Tai Po, a suburban area in Hong Kong’s New Territories near the border with Shenzhen. It was built in the 1980s and consists of eight high‑rise buildings with almost 2,000 flats and around 4,800 residents, including many older people, and has recently been undergoing major renovation works.
How the Hong Kong fire spread so fast
Officials say the fire appears to have started on bamboo scaffolding and green construction netting on the exterior of one of the 32‑storey towers before moving into the building and then on to neighbouring blocks, likely helped by windy conditions, per Reueters. Hong Kong is one of the last places where bamboo scaffolding is still widely used, and the government had already announced plans this year to phase it out on many public projects because of safety concerns.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang said preliminary investigations found that netting and waterproof tarpaulin on the exterior walls burned faster than regulated materials should, calling the rapid spread of the flames “unusual”.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that fire services director Andy Yeung has also said officers found styrofoam inside the buildings, which may have helped the blaze race through corridors and into individual flats.
The emergency response
Fire chiefs have described extremely high temperatures inside the towers, saying that heat and falling debris made it hard for crews to carry out rescues on upper floors. At least one firefighter, a 37‑year‑old man, is among the dead, while another has been treated for heat exhaustion.
Authorities say hundreds of firefighters, police and paramedics were deployed, with more than 120 fire trucks and around 60 ambulances sent to the scene. By early Thursday local time, fires in some buildings were under control but others were still showing “scattered” flames as crews continued to work through the night.
Hong Kong journalist Ryan Chang told Australian media that most of the fire has been extinguished, 13 hours after it began.
“The air is just very with smoke and ash and there’s also huge pieces of ash falling down,” he told Sunrise.
“As well as that, we have the really tall jets of water being sprayed onto the side of the building.
“However, we can still see some embers and large tongues of flames that are still jumping out of windows. However, we can see that also there are three blocks where largely the fire has subsided.”
Residents forced to flee
Around 700 to 900 people have been evacuated and moved into temporary shelters set up by district officials in Tai Po, including community halls and other public buildings. Local media reported that some residents are still searching for loved ones, while volunteers and charities are providing basic supplies and support in the shelters.
What authorities are investigating
Hong Kong’s Chief Executive John Lee has called the fire a major catastrophe and confirmed that police and the Fire Services Department have set up a joint investigation team. He has said the probe will look at whether exterior wall materials and scaffolding mesh met fire‑retardant standards and whether any criminal elements were involved.
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