Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades kills at least 55, hundreds missing

HONG KONG - Hong Kong’s worst residential fire in more than half a century has

killed at least 55 people

, the city’s fire department said on the afternoon of Nov 27.

Fire service officials told a news conference that 51 died at the scene, while four died in hospital.

They added that blazes in four of the eight apartment blocks in the estate had been extinguished and three fires were under control. One building was not affected.

The incident has left hundreds missing

, as rescue workers race to extinguish the blaze and Chinese President Xi Jinping urges all-out efforts to reduce casualties.

Rescue efforts continued overnight after a fire that began around 3pm local time on Nov 26 turned an eight-tower housing complex in northern Hong Kong into an inferno, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky.

Officials said the blaze began on a section of the bamboo scaffolding encasing the complex, which is still widely used in the city.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said 279 people were still feared missing, while city authorities announced a criminal investigation will be pursued.

Police arrested two directors and a consultant from an engineering company on suspicion of manslaughter, as the city battled its most deadly housing fire since a blaze at a tenement building killed 44 in 1962.  

“Protective netting, fire-resistant cloth and plastic sheeting on the exterior of the building burned far more intensely and spread much faster than compliant materials normally would,” Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters.  

Mr Xi asked other local governments to aid Hong Kong in the rescue mission, and expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and injured.  

Hong Kong’s government was already under pressure to clean up the city’s housing sector, after China’s top leader called to create “more decent” homes for the poor in one of the world’s most expensive real estate markets.

Housing complexes in the former British colony are typically densely populated, with multi-generational families often living inside one small apartment.  

The air around the Tai Po estate was filled with a burning smell on Nov 27 morning, as explosions were heard on the top floors of 31-storey high-rises where water hoses could not reach. Smoke billowed from the complex close to the city’s border with China, which has close to 2,000 units and was undergoing a lengthy renovation. Three towers remained on fire.

Mr Peter Leung, 71, who lives in the estate and has three friends missing, said he had paid HK$170,000 (S$28,300) for the upgrading work.

“The building management told us the exterior walls had damage and needed to be repaired,” he said, after spending the night at a shelter with 100 people. “But many residents were unwilling to pay that high a price and had filed complaints.”

The blaze will likely draw comparisons with the Grenfell Tower fire in London, which killed 72 people in June 2017. That blaze was later deemed to be a the result of a “catalogue of failures” by the government and construction industry.

While that tragedy unfolded in the middle of the night as residents slept, this fire began mid-afternoon when many people would have been awake.

Fire alarms did not go off, however, even after locals could smell smoke, residents told former district councillor Herman Yiu Kwan-ho, according to the South China Morning Post. Those inside were alerted only when a security guard knocked on their door, he said.

More than one-third of the roughly 5,000 residents at Wang Fuk Estate – which was built as government-subsidised housing in the 1980s – are over age 65, according to a 2021 census.

A 37-year-old fireman was among the dead, after being found collapsed at the scene and rushed to the Prince of Wales Hospital, the government said in a statement.

The estate is located in the suburban Tai Po district, which has about 300,000 residents and encompasses housing for various income ranges as well as parks and shopping malls. Rescue operations are expected to stretch into Nov 27 evening, more than 24 hours after the blaze started.

Hong Kong is one of the few places in the world where bamboo is still widely used in construction, and an iconic feature of the city’s skyline. But safety fears have persisted and, in March, the government said it would start phasing out bamboo in favour of fire-resistant steel, requiring metal frames for 50 per cent of public works.

Scaffolding at Wang Cheong House in the complex caught fire first, deputy fire services director Derek Chan said at a media briefing five hours after the blaze began, according to public broadcaster RTHK.

“Debris and scaffolding of the affected buildings are falling down, so they pose additional danger to our frontline personnel,” he said, the outlet reported. “The temperature inside the buildings concerned are very high. It’s quite difficult for us to enter.” BLOOMBERG