At least 55 people have died in Hong Kong after a huge fire engulfed several residential apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po on Wednesday afternoon. At least 45 people are in hospital in critical condition and almost 300 people are missing.
By Thursday morning, the fires had not been fully extinguished at the complex, which is made up of eight 32-storey towers, containing about 2,000 flats, and were being renovated at the time. About 4,800 people live there. The flames in four buildings are under control.
Three men aged between 52 and 68 were arrested on Thursday morning on suspicion of manslaughter. The trio – two directors and one engineering consultant – worked at a construction company, police said.
Police alleged they had reason to believe the company’s responsible parties were “grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties”.
Police did not name the company but later on Thursday searched the office of a construction and engineering company. They seized boxes of documents as evidence, according to local media.
Firefighters and rescue crews started searching the lower levels of some of the buildings on Thursday. Twenty-six rescue teams are on site.
The fire appears to have spread in part because the buildings were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding, a traditional building material that the authorities have been phasing out for safety reasons. Officials said they will also look at materials used in the buildings’ exterior they say may have contributed. A taskforce has been set up to investigate the cause of the fire.
More than 900 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters as the rescue work continues.
China’s leader, Xi Jinping, expressed his condolences for the victims, China’s state broadcaster said late on Wednesday.
More than 128 fire engines and nearly 800 firefighters were sent to the scene. At least one firefighter was among the dead.
The Wang Fuk Court towers are among the tallest in Tai Po, which, like much of Hong Kong, is among the most densely populated areas in the world.
