Hong Kong tower fire death toll rises to 128 as 200 remain missing, more arrests made

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s anti-graft body on Nov 28 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 Nov 27.

More bodies may be found

The fire in the Wang Fuk Court development started on the afternoon of Nov 26 and rapidly engulfed seven of the eight 32-storey 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 press conference.

He also said fire alarms in the complex had not been working properly.

Waiting for temperatures to drop

The estate housing more than 4,600 people had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh for the renovations.

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

“Our aim now is to make sure the temperature decreases in the building and once everything is deemed safe, police will collect evidence and conduct further investigation,” he said.

On Nov 28, mourners laid flower tributes in front of the charred and smouldering buildings, while distressed residents 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,” said one resident, identified only as Miss Yu.

“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.”

‘There’s no hope,’ friend says

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

A resident, who did not want to be identified, said a friend’s wife was among those unaccounted for.

“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.”

Volunteers distribute aid

Hundreds of volunteers 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 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 in 2024 that they faced “relatively low fire risks” after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation works, the city’s Labour Department told Reuters.

The residents had raised concerns over the renovations in September 2024, including 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 e-mail.

Anti-graft body makes more arrests

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

Police on Nov 27 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 covering windows.

Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.

The city’s development bureau has discussed

gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding

with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.

Domestic workers among the missing

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

Indonesia’s consulate said two of the dead were the country’s 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 (S$50 million) fund to help residents, while some of China’s biggest listed companies announced donations.

Hong Kong, one of the world’s most densely populated cities, is scattered with high-rise housing complexes. Its sky-high property prices have long been a trigger for discontent and analysts say the tragedy could stoke resentment towards the authorities despite efforts to tighten political and national security control.

Even those not directly affected by the fire spoke of how it had affected them.

“Hong Kong is very small. Even if, at this moment, we don’t personally know anyone there, friends of friends definitely do. So the people affected... this incident feels really close to us,” 22-year-old student Crystal Ho said. REUTERS