A view of the rubble in the aftermath of the Tai Po apartment fire in Hong Kong, China, after it broke out earlier this week (Picture: EPA)
More than 100 people have been killed after a fire spread through a number of tower blocks in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong Security Chief Chris Tang said that 128 people had been killed and 79 people had been injured after the blaze broke out and tore through bamboo scaffolding on high-rise buildings in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.
He added that around 200 people were still unaccounted for, but the recovery mission had wrapped up after emergency service workers spent days battling flames and heavy smoke to try and rescue people.
The Wang Fuk Court housing estate, where more than 4,600 people were living, had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh for renovation work when the fire started and quickly spread on Wednesday.
Tang added that 12 firemen have been injured in the rescue efforts, and one is in a serious condition.
During the press conference, he added that the fire alarms in the affected buildings were not working properly.
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Thick smoke and flames rise as a major fire engulfs apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Tai Po, Hong Kong (Picture: AFP)
Some 4,000 people live in the Wang Fuk Court housing estate, which are reported to have 1,984 flats (Picture: AFP)
Police said they had arrested three construction company officials on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials, including flammable foam boards blocking windows.
The fire is Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze. It’s led to comparisons to Grenfell Tower fire in west London, which killed 72 people in 2017.
While firefighters contained the blaze on Friday and doused the still-smouldering complex, families are searching through photographs taken by emergency service workers for their loved ones.
One resident, who did not want to be identified, said her 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?
‘It’s just too sorrowful. When it involves people you know, it’s even more painful.’
On the second night after the blaze, dozens of evacuees set up mattresses in a nearby mall, many saying official evacuation centres should be saved for those in greater need.
People – from elderly residents to schoolchildren – wrapped themselves in duvets and huddled in tents outside a McDonald’s restaurant and convenience shops as volunteers handed out snacks and toiletries.
According to the Reuters news agency, two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm identified by the government as doing maintenance on the estate for more than a year, have been arrested.
Bamboo scaffolding crumbles away from a building at Wang Fuk Court housing estate (Picture: Reuters)
Wong, 71, reacts fearing his wife is trapped inside one of the burning blocks in Tai Po (Picture: Reuters)
He looked terrified and called out to her as the buildings went up in smoke (Picture: Reuters)
A raid was carried out on their officers a few days ago, where police seized bidding documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones in a raid of the company’s office.
‘We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,’ Police Superintendent Eileen Chung said on Thursday.
Prestige has not commented.
The city’s development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.
Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said the government would set up a HK$300 million (£33 million) fund to help residents, while some of China’s biggest listed companies have also announced donations.
What is the cause of the fire?
The cause of the fire is still being determined by officials. What is clear, however, is that the fire spread rapidly through the exterior scaffolding system, said Jiang Liming, a fire-safety expert at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
Last year, residents were told they faced ‘relatively low risks’ after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation works, the city’s Labour Department told Reuters.
People living at Wang Fuk Court in northern Hong Kong had raised concerns over maintenance activity in September 2024, including about the potential flammability of the protective green mesh contractors had used to cover the bamboo scaffolding raised around the buildings, a department spokesperson said in an email.
Police cordons are placed at the scene of the Wang Fuk Court housing estate fire as mourners pay tribute to the victims (Picture: REUTERS)
Buildings stand in the background as seen between the bamboo scaffolding on charred buildings of Wang Fuk Court housing complex (Picture: REUTERS)
Firefighters inspect the affected area in the aftermath of the Tai Po apartment fire in Hong Kong (Picture: EPA)
A view of the rubble in the aftermath of the Tai Po apartment fire (Credits: EPA)
The department subsequently reviewed safety certification for the mesh, which was used as a net for falling debris, and told residents the material’s ‘flame-retardant performance’ met standards, said the agency.
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Hong Kong police said on Thursday, however, that the exterior walls of the complex’s buildings ‘had protective nets, membranes, waterproof tarpaulins, and plastic sheets suspected of not meeting fire safety standards.’
The Labour Department told Reuters that when it told residents they faced low fire risks it did not mean potential hazards were ignored. It also said it had reminded the contractor to implement fire-prevention measures.
The agency added that it had carried out 16 safety inspections at Wang Fuk Court between July 2024 and November 2025. The department issued six improvement notices to the contractor over its work at the complex and initiated three prosecutions, it said, without providing further specifics.
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