HONG KONG: Hong Kong firefighters were scouring scorched high-rises yesterday for over 250 people listed as missing, a day after the financial hub’s worst blaze in decades killed at least 55 in an apartment complex.
Over 24 hours after fire broke out in the eight-building housing estate with 2,000 units, flames were still visible in some windows as crews sprayed water on the blackened exteriors.
Authorities have begun investigating what sparked the disastrous blaze, including the presence of bamboo scaffolding and plastic mesh wrapped around the structures as part of construction work. Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body said it has launched a probe into renovation work at a housing complex, hours after police said they arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site.
The intense flames in four of the eight apartment blocks were finally extinguished and the fires in three others were under control, officials said yesterday afternoon. One building was not affected. Multiple residents of Wang Fuk Court, located in Hong Kong’s northern district of Tai Po, told AFP that they did not hear any fire alarm and had to go door-to-door to alert neighbours to the danger.
Crowds moved by the tragedy gathered near the complex to organise aid for displaced residents and firefighters, part of a spontaneous effort in a city that has some of the world’s most densely populated and tallest residential blocks.
The toll continues to increase and fire service officials told reporters that 51 victims lost their lives at the scene, while four died in hospital. Hong Kong authorities will immediately inspect all housing estates undergoing major works following the disaster, the city’s leader John Lee said.
Among the dead was a 37-yearold firefighter, who was found with burns on his face half an hour after losing contact with colleagues, according to the fire service director Andy Yeung.
A government spokesman told AFP that 61 people were being treated in hospital.
Fifteen were in a critical condition, 27 in a serious condition and 19 were stable.
City leader Lee said in the early hours of Thursday that 279 were unaccounted for, though firefighters said later that they had established contact with some of those people.
Authorities have not updated the figure since. Lee said more than 900 people sought refuge at temporary shelters overnight.
The Indonesian consulate said around noon that two of the deceased were Indonesians working as migrant domestic workers.
On Wednesday night, sections of charred scaffolding fell from the burning blocks and flames could be seen inside apartments, sometimes belching out through windows into the night sky, casting an eerie orange glow on surrounding buildings.
“The temperature at the scene is very high and there are some floors where we have been unable to reach people who requested help, but we will keep trying,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, the deputy director of fire service operations.
He said the wind and drifting debris likely spread the fire from one building to another, although he added that authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze.
Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed condolences to the victims, including “the firefighter who died in the line of duty”, according to state media.
Lee said he was “deeply saddened” and that all government departments were assisting residents affected by the fire.
Yesterday afternoon, some of the residents in adjacent blocks who had been evacuated as a precaution were allowed back into their homes. – AFP
