Thick smoke billows from the upper floors of a residential block
Credit: Reuters Photo
A deadly fire spread between several high-rise apartment buildings in Hong Kong on Wednesday and continued to burn for nearly 24 hours with an unknown number of people feared trapped inside.
Dark smoke billowed over Hong Kong skyline on Thursday as firefighters battled to extinguish the remaining fires and searched for as many as 279 missing people. The authorities arrested three people related to the towers’ construction on suspicion of gross negligence. But they had yet to disclose the cause of the fire. At least 44 people have been killed.
Here’s what we know about the fire in Hong Kong:
What do we know about the start of the fire?
The blaze broke out at a dense complex in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district around 2:50 pm.
The complex, Wang Fuk Court, had about 2,000 apartments in the eight towers, which have 32 stories each.
The cause of the fire was not immediately known. The authorities were investigating whether the materials used on the buildings’ exterior walls fell short of fire-safety standards, causing the fire to spread more rapidly.
The towers were covered in bamboo scaffolding, which is widely used in Hong Kong for construction and repairs. In October, the fire department attributed the rapid spread of another fire at a downtown office building to the bamboo scaffolding wrapped around it.
The Hong Kong government has announced plans to phase out bamboo in favor of fire-resistant steel.
What do we know about the rescue efforts?
More than 700 firefighters were sent to the site, but they struggled to reach flames in the towers’ upper levels as their ladders and hoses appeared to reach only halfway up the buildings.
It was unclear how many people were trapped inside the buildings, and local leaders said they were in contact with families still inside the complex.
Falling debris and high temperatures made it difficult for firefighters to get into the buildings to conduct rescues, Hong Kong’s fire department said at a news conference. A firefighter was among the dead.
How are authorities responding?
The Hong Kong police said Thursday that they had arrested three construction officials on suspicion of manslaughter.
Lai Yee Chung, a senior police superintendent, said at a news conference Thursday that the authorities believed there had been gross negligence on the part of those responsible for construction.
Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, urged “all-out rescue efforts to minimise loss,” according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency. He also instructed national government agencies to help local authorities in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s government said it had opened temporary shelters at nearby community centers and at a school to house displaced residents.