Hong Kong’s Chief Government John Lee (C) and different authorities officers observe three minutes of silence to mourn victims of the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property fireplace, on the Central authorities places of work in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2025.
Peter Parks | Afp | Getty Photos
Hong Kong on Saturday mourned the 128 folks identified to have died in an enormous fireplace at a high-rise house complicated, a toll that’s prone to rise with 200 others nonetheless unaccounted for days after the catastrophe.
Authorities have arrested 11 folks in reference to town’s worst blaze in practically 80 years as they examine potential corruption and using unsafe supplies throughout renovations on the Wang Fuk Courtroom complicated.
Rescue operations on the website within the district of Tai Po, close to the border with mainland China, concluded on Friday, although police say they might discover extra our bodies as they search the burnt-out buildings as a part of ongoing investigations.
The fireplace began on Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed seven of the eight 32-storey blocks on the complicated, which have been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and inexperienced mesh and layered with foam insulation for the renovations.
Seek for our bodies continues
Authorities have mentioned the hearth alarms on the property, house to greater than 4,600 folks, had not been working correctly.
Hong Kong chief John Lee, different officers and civil servants, all wearing black, stood in silence for 3 minutes early on Saturday outdoors the central authorities places of work, the place flags have been lowered to half-mast.
The Hong Kong (R) and Chinese language flags are flown at half-mast as authorities officers observe three minutes of silence to mourn victims of the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property fireplace, on the Central authorities places of work in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2025.
Peter Parks | Afp | Getty Photos
Condolence books have been arrange at 18 factors across the former British colony for the general public to pay their respects.
“Our most heartfelt ideas are with all those that have misplaced family members and with people who at the moment are residing with shock and uncertainty,” Britain’s King Charles mentioned in an announcement in regards to the “appalling tragedy”.
At Wang Fuk Courtroom, law enforcement officials from the catastrophe sufferer identification unit, carrying white overalls, helmets and oxygen masks, entered one of many charred buildings to proceed their seek for stays.
They climbed over mounds of bamboo scaffolding that had fallen through the catastrophe and round giant puddles of water created after firemen doused the buildings for days to attempt to decrease the temperatures inside.
A resident reacts as she speaks to the media within the aftermath of a serious fireplace that swept by means of a number of house blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 28, 2025.
Dale De La Rey | Afp | Getty Photos
Households and mourners gathered to put flowers whereas some confronted the grim process of images of the useless taken by rescue staff. Authorities mentioned on Friday that solely 39 of the 128 useless had been recognized.
Hong Kong’s Lee has mentioned the federal government would arrange a HK$300 million ($40 million) fund to assist residents whereas a few of China’s greatest listed firms have pledged donations.
Individuals pray on the aftermath of a serious fireplace that swept by means of a number of house blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 28, 2025.
Philip Fong | Afp | Getty Photos
A whole lot of volunteers have additionally mobilised to assist the victims, sorting and distributing gadgets from diapers to sizzling meals.
They shaped groups to gather, transport and distribute items in round the clock shifts and have arrange a sprawling help camp for displaced residents beside a shopping center throughout from the complicated.
Home staff from Indonesia and the Philippines have been additionally caught up within the tragedy. Hong Kong has round 368,000 such staff, principally girls from low-income Asian international locations who dwell with their employers, usually in cramped areas.
Indonesia mentioned six of its residents died within the incident. The Philippines mentioned one among its nationals is critically injured, one other is confirmed lacking, and 28 are considered residents of the realm however their whereabouts are unknown.
Deadliest blaze since 1948
The fireplace is Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 folks died in a warehouse blaze, and has prompted comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 folks in 2017.
Residents of Wang Fuk Courtroom have been advised by authorities final 12 months that they confronted “comparatively low fireplace dangers” after complaining repeatedly about fireplace hazards posed by ongoing renovation, town’s Labour Division advised Reuters.
The residents had raised issues in September 2024, together with in regards to the potential flammability of the protecting inexperienced mesh contractors had used to cowl the bamboo scaffolding, a division spokesperson mentioned.
Firefighters inside one of many towers following a hearth on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Tai Po district in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Hong Kong’s anti-graft physique mentioned it had arrested eight folks on Friday together with an engineering guide, a scaffolding subcontractor and an middleman.
Earlier, police arrested two administrators and an engineering guide of Status Building, a agency recognized by the federal government as doing upkeep on Wang Fuk Courtroom for greater than a 12 months, on suspicion of manslaughter for utilizing unsafe supplies, together with flammable foam boards blocking home windows.
Status didn’t reply repeated requires remark.
Public anger over the hearth has to date been muted, a stark distinction to mass pro-democracy protests of 2019 that prompted Beijing to tighten its grip on town.
Law enforcement officials from the Catastrophe Sufferer Identification Unit wearing white-coloured full-body protecting gear, collect by the housing blocks of Wang Fuk Courtroom within the aftermath of the lethal Nov. 26 fireplace, in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2025.
Yan Zhao | Afp | Getty Photos
But some pissed off volunteers handed out flyers close to the property on Friday, demanding correct resettlement of affected residents, an overhaul of presidency oversight of building tasks, and an unbiased probe into the blaze.
As with different main fireplace incidents like Grenfell, analysts say stress for solutions could rapidly unfold past the development corporations to authorities regulators.
The Hong Kong authorities has historically staged open inquiries into large-scale tragedies, usually headed by an unbiased choose.
