Hong Kong mourns victims of apartment blaze that killed 128, and counting

HONG KONG – An outpouring of grief swept through Hong Kong on Nov 29 as an official three-day mourning period began with a moment of silence for the

128 people killed in one of the city’s deadliest fires

.

City leader John Lee, along with senior ministers and dozens of top civil servants, stood in silence for three minutes at 8am local time outside the government’s headquarters, where the flags of China and Hong Kong were flown at half-mast.

Hours before that, AFP saw citizens placing flowers near the charred shell of Wang Fuk Court, the residential complex that burned for more than 40 hours.

“May your spirits in heaven always keep the joy alive,” read a note of remembrance placed at the site.

Some 18 points have been set up across Hong Kong for the public to sign condolence books, the government said.

Search operations could take three to four weeks to complete, Hong Kong’s Home Secretary Alice Mak said on Nov 29.

Britain’s King Charles said in a statement about the “appalling tragedy”: “Our most heartfelt thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones and with those who are now living with shock and uncertainty.”

The authorities have arrested 14 people

in connection with the city’s worst blaze in nearly 80 years as they investigate possible corruption and the use of unsafe materials during renovations at the Wang Fuk Court complex.

Families have been combing hospitals and victim identification stations hoping to find their loved ones, with 150 people still listed as missing, according to a revised figure from Hong Kong authorities, and 89 bodies still unidentified.

The police revised down the number of people unaccounted for to 150 from 200 on Nov 29, after confirming with some relatives that they had managed to connect with loved ones they initially reported as missing.

At Wang Fuk Court, police officers from the disaster victim identification unit, wearing white overalls, helmets and oxygen masks, entered one of the charred buildings to continue their search for remains.

They climbed over mounds of bamboo scaffolding that had fallen during the disaster and around large puddles of water created after firemen doused the buildings for days to try to lower the temperatures inside.

Hundreds of officers deployed to search for remains found no further bodies but rescued three cats and a turtle, police officials told a press conference.

China on Nov 29 ordered a nationwide investigation of fire risks at high-rise buildings, especially residential blocks undergoing renovation.

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body, the Independent Commission Against Corruption, said on Nov 29 that it had arrested three more people. They are aged between 52 and 68, and were in charge of the contractor of the renovation project at the complex.

Flames had spread quickly through the housing estate in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district on the afternoon of Nov 26, engulfing seven of the eight high-rises in the densely packed complex.

The authorities said the cause was yet to be determined, but preliminary investigations suggested the fire started on protective netting on the lower floors of one of the towers and that “highly flammable” foam boards, as well as bamboo scaffolding, had contributed to its spread.

Fire services chief Andy Yeung said they discovered that alarm systems in all eight apartment blocks “were malfunctioning”, and vowed action against the contractors.

Residents had told AFP they did not hear any fire alarms and went door to door to alert neighbours to the danger.

A man surnamed Fung said he was visiting the housing estate daily to look for his mother-in-law, 80. “She is on antibiotics... so she is always sleeping. There was no fire alarm, so she might not have known there was a fire,” he said.

The city’s anti-graft watchdog said the eight people it arrested on Nov 28 included “consultants, scaffolding sub-contractors and (a) middleman of the project”.

On Nov 27, police said they arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site.

‘Burning red’

On Nov 28, dozens were still in hospital, with 11 in critical condition and 21 listed as being in “serious” condition.

AFP journalists saw workers removing black body bags from the site, while vehicles unloaded bodies at a mortuary in nearby Sha Tin.

“We do not rule out the possibility that police will find more charred remains when entering (the building) for detailed investigation and evidence collection,” security chief Chris Tang said.

At one hospital, a woman surnamed Wong was looking for her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law’s twin, with no luck.

“We still cannot find them. So we are going to different hospitals to ask if they have good news,” the 38-year-old told AFP in tears.

Ms Christy Tang, 67, was among those searching for her friend, an outgoing retiree who enjoyed singing and sports.

“We checked the photos of dead bodies trying to identify her but to no avail,” she said, as she laid flowers in remembrance.

Domestic workers from Indonesia and the Philippines were also caught up in the tragedy.

Hong Kong has around 368,000 such workers, mostly women from low-income Asian countries who live with their employers, often in cramped spaces.

Indonesia said seven of its citizens died in the incident. The Philippines said one of its nationals is critically injured, another is confirmed missing, and 28 are thought to be residents of the area but their whereabouts are unknown.

An injured worker from the Philippines, Ms Rhodora Alcaraz, 28, cradled her employers’ three-month-old baby in a wet blanket while trapped in a smoke-filled room for several hours before being rescued by firefighters, her sister Raychelle Loreto told Reuters.

“I’m feeling very weak. I can’t breathe,” she mumbled through sobs in a panicked audio message sent to her sister via Facebook as the situation escalated.

The government said police have activated a specialist disaster victim identification system to help locate the missing.

“One building went up in flames and it spread to two more blocks in less than 15 minutes,” a 77-year-old eyewitness surnamed Mui told AFP. “It was burning red, I shudder to think about it.”

Community response

The blaze was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.

Lethal fires were once a regular scourge in densely populated Hong Kong, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, but improved safety measures have made them far less common.

Security chief Tang said the full investigation into the fire’s causes could take up to four weeks.

Residents of Wang Fuk Court were told by the authorities in 2024 that they faced “relatively low fire risks” after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation, the city’s Labour Department told Reuters.

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

Mr Lee said the government would set up a HK$300 million (S$50 million) fund to help residents, while some of China’s biggest listed companies have pledged donations.

The authorities had found temporary accommodation for around 800 people, the government said on Nov 28. Nine emergency shelters were also in operation, accommodating about 720 people overnight.

A spontaneous community effort to help firefighters and those displaced has become a well-oiled machine.

Hundreds of volunteers have mobilised 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 complex.

Separate supply stations for clothes, food and household goods were set up at a public square near the towers, as well as booths providing medical and psychological care.

So much was donated that organisers put out a call on social media saying no more was needed.

Demand for action

Public anger over the fire has so far been muted, a stark contrast to mass pro-democracy protests of 2019 that prompted Beijing to tighten its grip on the city.

Yet some frustrated volunteers handed out fliers near the estate on Nov 28, demanding proper resettlement of affected residents, an overhaul of government oversight of construction projects, and an independent probe into the blaze.

The petition had gained more than 8,600 signatures by the afternoon of Nov 29.

As with other major fire incidents like the Grenfell Tower fire of 2017 in Britain, analysts say pressure for answers may quickly spread beyond the construction firms to government regulators.

The Hong Kong government has traditionally staged open inquiries into large-scale tragedies, often headed by an independent judge.

Miles, a volunteer with the Tai Po Fire Concern Group who declined to give his surname, considering the sensitivity of the matter, said his group’s demands were “very basic”. “The government should not oppose them. If it opposes them, it is too sensitive and irresponsible,” he said.

A spokesperson for China’s national security office in Hong Kong said in a statement on Nov 29 that it firmly supports the city government to severely punish anyone who used “disaster to disrupt Hong Kong”. AFP, REUTERS