Smoke rises from residential buildings as fires proceed to burn at Wang Fuk Courtroom within the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2025.
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An enormous hearth nonetheless burning in a Hong Kong condo complicated that has killed at the least 44 individuals and left virtually 300 lacking might have been unfold by unsafe scaffolding and foam supplies used throughout upkeep work, police stated on Thursday.
Working via the night time, firefighters have been struggling to achieve residents doubtlessly trapped on the higher flooring of the Wang Fuk Courtroom housing complicated as a result of intense warmth and thick smoke from the fireplace that erupted on Wednesday afternoon.
The tightly packed complicated within the northern Tai Po district has 2,000 residences in eight blocks, housing greater than 4,600 individuals.
By Thursday morning, authorities stated they’d introduced the fireplace in 4 blocks below management, with operations persevering with in three blocks.
Video from the scene confirmed flames nonetheless leaping from at the least two of the 32-storey towers sheathed in bamboo scaffolding and inexperienced building mesh, as heavy smoke billowed into the sky.
Thick smoke and flames rise as a serious hearth engulfs a number of condo blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 26, 2025.
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Police stated along with the buildings being coated with protecting mesh sheets and plastic that won’t meet hearth requirements, they found some home windows on one unaffected constructing have been sealed with a foam materials, put in by a building firm finishing up upkeep work.
“Now we have cause to imagine that the corporate’s accountable events have been grossly negligent, which led to this accident and brought about the fireplace to unfold uncontrollably, leading to main casualties,” Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, stated.
Three males from the development firm, two administrators and one engineering marketing consultant, had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the fireplace, she added.
The inexperienced building mesh and bamboo scaffolding used on the buildings are a mainstay of conventional Chinese language structure however have been topic to a phase-out in Hong Kong since March for security causes.
This image taken in Hong Kong on March 9, 2023 exhibits a scaffolder setting up bamboo scaffolding round a neon signal.
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A firefighter was among the many 44 killed, with 45 individuals in hospital in crucial situation, Hong Kong police instructed a press convention earlier than daybreak on Thursday.
The demise toll is now the best in a Hong Kong hearth since World Conflict Two, surpassing the 41 killed in a blaze in a industrial constructing within the Kowloon district in November 1996.
The most recent hearth has prompted comparisons to the Grenfell Tower inferno that killed 72 individuals in London in 2017. That fireplace was blamed on companies becoming the outside with flammable cladding, in addition to failings by the federal government and the development trade.
Important provides are piled outdoors a brief shelter close to the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 26, 2025.
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“The precedence is to extinguish the fireplace and rescue the residents who’re trapped,” Hong Kong chief John Lee instructed reporters earlier. “The second is to assist the injured. The third is to assist and get better. Then, we’ll launch an intensive investigation.”
Some 279 individuals have been uncontactable and 900 have been in eight shelters, he added.
One 71-year-old resident surnamed Wong broke down in tears, saying his spouse was trapped inside.
Harry Cheung, 66, who has lived at Block Two in one of many complexes for greater than 40 years, stated he heard a loud noise about 2:45 p.m. (0645 GMT) and noticed hearth erupt in a close-by block.
An condo nonetheless burns as a serious hearth swept via a number of condo blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 27, 2025.
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“I instantly went again to pack up my issues,” he stated.
“I do not even know the way I really feel proper now. I am simply excited about the place I’ll sleep tonight.”
One other long-time resident, a girl surnamed Chu, stated she nonetheless had not been in a position to contact her buddies who stay within the subsequent block. After staying over at a buddy’s place on Thursday night time, the 70-year-old got here again to see her residence nonetheless burning.
“We do not know what to do,” she stated.
China’s Xi urges ‘all-out’ effort towards hearth
Many residents took to social media to criticise what they noticed as negligence and cost-cutting as a reason for the fireplace. One video confirmed a number of building employees smoking on the bamboo scaffolding surrounding one of many complicated’s blocks throughout the renovation course of.
From the mainland, China’s President Xi Jinping urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fireplace and to minimise casualties and losses, China’s state broadcaster CCTV stated.
Hong Kong’s Transport Division stated that a lot of roads would stay closed within the space on Thursday morning and 39 bus routes have been diverted.
No less than six faculties shall be closed on Thursday because of the hearth and site visitors congestion, the town’s Schooling Bureau stated.
On Wednesday, frames of scaffolding have been seen tumbling to the bottom as firefighters battled the blaze, whereas scores of fireplace engines and ambulances lined the street beneath the event.
Hong Kong’s authorities moved to start out phasing out bamboo scaffolding in March, citing employee security after 22 deaths involving bamboo scaffolders between 2019 and 2024. It introduced that fifty% of public building works could be required to make use of steel frames as a substitute.
Although hearth hazard was not cited as a cause for the phase-out, there have been at the least three fires involving bamboo scaffolding this yr, in line with the Affiliation for the Rights of Industrial Accident Victims in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong’s sky-high property costs have lengthy been a set off for social discontent within the metropolis and the fireplace tragedy might additional stoke resentment in direction of authorities forward of a city-wide legislative election in early December.
Wang Fuk Courtroom is one among many high-rise housing complexes in Hong Kong, probably the most densely populated areas on the earth. Tai Po, positioned close to the border with mainland China, is a longtime suburban district with some 300,000 residents.
Occupied since 1983, the complicated is below the federal government’s subsidised residence possession scheme, in line with property company web sites. Based on on-line posts, it has been present process renovations for a yr at a price of HK$330 million ($42.43 million), with every unit paying between HK$160,000 and HK$180,000.
