One of Hong Kong’s deadliest residential fires has claimed 44 lives and left 58 injured, with 279 people still unaccounted for, after a massive blaze tore through the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in Tai Po on Wednesday afternoon.
Authorities confirmed that 40 victims died at the scene, while four succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
By early Thursday morning, Hong Kong police had arrested three individuals linked to the estate’s ongoing maintenance works, including two company directors and one consultant, aged between 52 and 68, on suspicion of manslaughter. Officers did not rule out more arrests.
Fire escalated from level 3 to level 5, residents trapped
The fire broke out around 3 PM and rapidly escalated from a No. 3 alarm to a No. 5 alarm, the highest classification in Hong Kong’s fire alert system.
Strong winds helped the flames spread to neighbouring blocks through bamboo scaffolding wrapped around the buildings for repair works.
Residents described scenes of panic, with many elderly occupants reportedly unaware a fire had started.
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee held a late-night press briefing, saying he was “deeply saddened” by the scale of casualties and confirming that 279 residents remained missing.
Suspicious materials found on scaffolding & windows
The estate’s buildings were undergoing external repair works at the time of the incident. Hong Kong’s Secretary for Security Chris Tang said firefighters noticed that:
- Protective nets, plastic sheets and waterproof tarps on the scaffolding burned far more aggressively than approved materials
- Some flats in unaffected buildings had foam panels stuck onto glass windows, which ignite and spread flame easily
Tang called these findings “highly unusual”, adding that a joint police-fire investigation team is now probing both the fire’s cause and possible criminal elements.
Historic estate undergoing repairs
Wang Fuk Court housing complex, built 42 years ago, consists of eight residential towers with 1,984 units. The entire estate had bamboo scaffolding installed for façade repairs.
Around 3 PM, flames were first spotted on the scaffolding of one tower. Strong winds quickly pushed the fire horizontally and vertically across the interconnected structures. Some residents also claimed they saw flames inside a building’s refuse room.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the fire’s official cause.
Seven towers affected, hundreds of firefighters mobilised
Hong Kong Fire Services Department Deputy Director (Operations) Chan Hing-yung reported that:
- Seven out of eight towers caught fire
- Four towers were under control by Thursday morning
- Three towers continued burning
- Search-and-rescue teams had reached floors 13 to 23 in some blocks
- Fire suppression teams were operating from floors 5 to 18
Assistant Chief Ambulance Officer Chow Wing-yin said 100 casualties had been handled so far, including 15 in critical condition, seven injured firefighters, and one firefighter killed in the line of duty.
More than 888 firefighters were deployed, alongside over 140 fire engines and 60 ambulances.
Firefighters said the blaze spread through corridors into residential units, creating thick smoke and extreme heat that forced them to advance floor by floor from the ground up. Some buildings’ fire installations were also found malfunctioning.
