Police in Hong Kong arrested three males from a development firm on suspicion of manslaughter, in reference to a blaze that has killed no less than 44 individuals and left one other 279 lacking within the metropolis’s deadliest fireplace in years.
No less than 62 others have been injured, many affected by burn and inhalation accidents, officers mentioned. The fireplace that began midafternoon Wednesday had unfold throughout seven of the complicated’s eight buildings, and 4 of the towers have been beneath management by morning, the town’s fireplace providers mentioned.
Fireplace Companies Division Director Andy Yeung mentioned a firefighter is among the many useless. In a press launch, Yeung mentioned the 37-year-old had been a firefighter for 9 years. “All of our colleagues are deeply saddened by the lack of such a loyal comrade,” he added.
It was not instantly identified how the hearth began, however officers mentioned the flames began on the exterior scaffolding of one of many buildings, a 32-story tower, and later unfold to contained in the constructing after which to close by buildings, probably aided by windy circumstances.
Wong, a 71-year-old man, was photographed in tears exterior the burning constructing claiming his spouse was trapped inside.
Reuters
The raging fireplace despatched up a column of flames and thick smoke because it unfold on bamboo scaffolding that had been arrange across the exterior of the complicated within the metropolis’s Tai Po district. Reside video from the scene confirmed firefighters aiming water on the intense flames from excessive up on ladder vehicles because the nightfall skies darkened, with smoke billowing from home windows and red-hot embers falling to the bottom.
Fireplace chiefs mentioned excessive temperatures on the scene made it tough for crews to mount rescue operations.
Authorities suspected some supplies on the outside partitions of the high-rise buildings didn’t meet fireplace resistance requirements, because the fast unfold of the hearth was uncommon.
Police additionally mentioned they discovered Styrofoam supplies which are extremely flammable exterior the home windows on every ground close to the elevator foyer of the one unaffected tower, believed to be put in by a development firm.
“We have now motive to imagine that these in control of the development firm have been grossly negligent,” mentioned Eileen Chung, a senior superintendent of police. The three males arrested, aged 52 to 68, are the administrators and an engineering advisor of the agency.
The blaze was first reported within the mid-afternoon and was upgraded by dusk to a stage 5 alarm, the best stage of severity, the Fireplace Companies Division mentioned.
Thick smoke and flames rise as a serious fireplace engulfs a number of condominium blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 26, 2025.
Yan Zhao/AFP through Getty Pictures
Firefighters deployed greater than 140 fireplace vehicles and greater than 60 ambulances to the scene.
Police mentioned they acquired a number of stories of individuals trapped within the affected buildings. Information present the housing complicated consisted of eight blocks with virtually 2,000 flats housing about 4,800 individuals. It was constructed within the Eighties and had lately been present process a serious renovation.
Folks take a look at flames engulfing a constructing after a hearth broke out at Wang Fuk Courtroom, a residential property within the Tai Po district of Hong Kong’s New Territories, Wednesday, Nov. 26 2025.
Chan Lengthy Hei / AP
About 900 individuals have been evacuated to non permanent shelters.
Lo Hiu-fung, a Tai Po District Council member, instructed native TV station TVB earlier Wednesday that many of the residents trapped within the fireplace have been believed to be aged individuals.
“Close by residents please keep indoors and shut doorways and home windows and keep calm and keep away from going to areas affected by fireplace incidents,” the Hong Kong Fireplace Companies Division wrote on Fb.
Chinese language chief Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed condolences to the firefighter who died and prolonged sympathies to the households of the victims, in accordance with state broadcaster CCTV.
Tai Po is a suburban space within the northern a part of Hong Kong and close to the border with the mainland Chinese language metropolis of Shenzhen.
The fireplace is the deadliest in Hong Kong in years. In November 1996, 41 individuals died in a industrial constructing in Kowloon in a stage 5 fireplace that lasted for round 20 hours.