Hong Kong tower fire death toll climbs to 128; more arrests made

TYRONE SIU / REUTERS

Police cordons are placed at the scene of the Wang Fuk Court housing estate fire as mourners pay tribute to the victims today in Tai Po, Hong Kong.

HONG KONG >> Hong Kong’s anti-graft body today said it had arrested eight people in connection with a fire that ripped through a high-rise apartment complex, killing at least 128 people with 200 still missing in the city’s worst fire in nearly 80 years.

Authorities said they had concluded rescue operations at the Wang Fuk Court complex in the northern district of Tai Po, but warned the death toll may still rise.

The Independent Commission Against Corruption also said it had launched a task force to investigate possible corruption in the renovation project at the complex, after police arrested three people on Thursday.

The fire in the Wang Fuk Court development started on Wednesday afternoon and rapidly engulfed seven of the eight 32-story blocks in the complex.

“We do not rule out the possibility that more bodies could be discovered when police enter the building for detailed investigations,” Hong Kong Security Chief Chris Tang told a news conference.

Tang also said fire alarms in the complex had not been working properly. The estate housing more than 4,600 people had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh for the renovations.

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Rescue efforts had now been concluded and at least 79 people, including 12 firefighters were injured, he said.

On Friday, dozens gathered at the scene with mourners laying flower tributes in front of the charred and smouldering buildings, while distressed residents, many of them elderly, surveyed the remains of their homes.

“This is my home. Look over there, the 10th floor, that’s where my home was. By the hills, that’s where my home used to be,” one resident, identified only as Miss Yu, said. “I really want to go back home, but my home is probably gone now. They won’t let us go back, so when I look in that direction, my heart feels so heavy.”

Families meanwhile had the grim task of looking at photographs of the dead taken by rescue workers. Security Chief Tang said only 39 of the 128 dead had been identified.

Mirra Wong, whose parents were living in Wang Fuk Court, was looking for news of her father. “Just recognize some picture is maybe (the) body of my dad. It’s my dad’s body is still missing here,” said Wong, 48.

Another resident, who did not want to be identified, said a friend’s wife was among those missing.

“Rationally speaking, it means there’s no hope,” she said. “But the bodies still have to be found, right? Let me see if they’ve found them … It’s just too sorrowful. When it involves people you know, it’s even more painful.”

Hundreds of volunteers have mobilized to help the victims, sorting and distributing items from diapers to hot food.

They formed teams to collect, transport and distribute goods in round-the-clock shifts and have set up a sprawling support camp for displaced residents beside a shopping mall across from the fire-damaged Wang Fuk complex.

The fire is Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze, and has prompted comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017.

Residents of the housing complex were told by authorities last year that they faced “relatively low fire risks” after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation works, the city’s Labor Department told Reuters.

The residents had raised concerns over the renovations in September 2024, including about the potential flammability of the protective green mesh contractors had used to cover the bamboo scaffolding erected around the buildings, a department spokesperson said in an email.

At a nearby train station, several people distributed hundreds of leaflets demanding an independent inquiry into regulatory negligence, resettlement, government accountability and for the construction monitoring system to be re-examined.

“We really need a whole revamp of institutions,” said one volunteer, who just gave his name as Miles and who was handing out flyers.

“We need to really look into any potential corruption that’s happening … in construction sites in all the sectors around Hong Kong. And that’s the reason why we as regular Hongkongers are standing out.”

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said the eight individuals arrested included an engineering consultant, a scaffolding subcontractor, and an intermediary.

Police on Thursday arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm identified by the government as doing maintenance on Wang Fuk Court for more than a year on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials, including flammable foam boards blocking windows.

Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.

Dozens of domestic workers from the Philippines had been caught up in the disaster and 19 were still missing, said Edwina Antonio, executive director at migrant women refuge association Bethune House.

Indonesia’s consulate said two of the dead were its nationals also working as domestic helpers. Hong Kong has around 368,000 domestic workers, mostly women from low-income Asian countries who live with their employers. Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said the government would set up a HK$300 million ($39 million) fund to help residents while some of China’s biggest listed companies announced donations.

See more:World news

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