Hong Kong awoke Thursday to a scene of devastation, as firefighters continued combing through the charred remains of Wang Fuk Court — the northern Tai Po housing estate where the city’s most lethal fire in decades has already claimed at least 55 lives and left more than 250 people unaccounted for.
More than a day after flames first tore through the eight-block complex of 2,000 homes, pockets of fire were still glowing behind shattered windows, reports AFP.
Exhausted fire crews kept dousing smoldering upper floors, the once-familiar façades now blackened and skeletal.
Authorities have launched a sweeping investigation into what triggered the inferno, focusing on construction materials surrounding the buildings, including bamboo scaffolding and plastic safety netting — both of which may have helped the flames race upward.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency also confirmed it was probing renovation procedures at the estate, hours after police arrested three men accused of leaving foam packaging materials near the ignition site.
By Thursday afternoon, officials confirmed that firefighters had completely extinguished four of the eight towers. Three more were under control. Only one block escaped untouched.
But for many residents, the terror of the previous night remained raw.
Several survivors told AFP they never heard a fire alarm. Instead, they relied on neighbours — not warning systems — to escape.
“The fire spread so quickly. I saw one hose trying to save several buildings, and I felt it was far too slow,” said a resident surnamed Suen. “Ringing doorbells, knocking on doors, alerting the neighbours, telling them to leave — that’s what the situation was like.”
As smoke continued to curl skyward, crowds of Hong Kongers gathered outside the cordoned-off estate. Volunteers set up makeshift support stations to distribute supplies to displaced families and exhausted frontline crews.
“It’s truly touching. The spirit of Hong Kong people is that when one is in trouble, everyone lends support… It shows that Hong Kong people are full of love,” said 38-year-old Stone Ngai, one of the volunteers coordinating aid.
Still, the toll grew heavier by the hour. Fire officials confirmed that 51 victims died at the scene, while four others succumbed to their injuries in hospital.
Chief Executive John Lee announced immediate inspections of every housing estate currently undergoing major construction or renovation, saying authorities “must understand what went wrong.”
Many hospitalized
Hospitals across the city were stretched. A government spokesman reported 61 people receiving treatment — 15 in critical condition, 27 serious, and 19 stable.
For some families, the ordeal struck painfully close. Displaced resident Wong Sik-kam said his son, a firefighter, had been deployed to the blaze.
“My son called me and told me about the fire… I thought it was just a normal fire, like a kitchen accident that would be put out. Who knew it would get so bad?” he said.
One of the fallen was a 37-year-old firefighter discovered with severe burns after losing radio contact during the rescue effort, fire services director Andy Yeung confirmed.
In the early hours of Thursday, Lee said 279 people remained unaccounted for, though firefighters noted later in the day that they had since reached some of those individuals. Authorities have yet to release an updated tally.
More than 900 residents sought refuge overnight in emergency shelters set up across the district.
Tragedy also reached beyond Hong Kong’s borders. The Indonesian consulate confirmed that two of the deceased were migrant domestic workers employed in the estate.
As search efforts continue and the city braces for a rising death toll, Hong Kong confronts a haunting question: how a fire in one of the world’s most modern urban centers could turn so swiftly into a catastrophe of historic proportions.
