Hong Kong fire authorities said they expected to wrap up search and rescue operations on Friday after the city's worst fire in nearly 80 years tore through a massive apartment complex, killing at least 128 people, injuring 79 and leaving around 200 still missing.
Firefighters had mostly contained the blaze that destroyed the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po.
The eight-tower estate housing more than 4,600 people had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh when the fire started and quickly spread on Wednesday afternoon.
Police said they had arrested three construction company officials on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials, including flammable foam boards blocking windows.
Firefighters continued to work at the still-smouldering complex on Friday morning.
"We'll endeavour to effect forcible entry to all the units of the seven buildings, so as to ensure there are no other possible casualties," Deputy Fire Services Director Derek Chan told reporters early on Friday.
As many as 279 people were listed as missing in the early hours of Thursday morning, but that figure has not been updated for more than 24 hours.
Chan said 25 calls for help to the Fire Department remain unresolved, including three in recent hours which would be prioritised.
"Hope they can find more survivors in the building, I think they had tried their best, the firefighters have done a lot," resident Jacky Kwok said. "It is a terrible disaster that no one wanted to happen."
On Thursday, a distraught woman carrying her daughter's graduation photograph searched for her child outside a shelter, one of eight that authorities said were housing 900 residents.
"She and her father are still not out yet," said the 52-year-old, who gave only her surname, Ng, as she sobbed. "They didn’t have water to save our building."
Most of the victims were found in two towers in the complex, while firefighters found survivors in several buildings, Chan said, but gave no further details.
The confirmed death toll rose to 94 early on Friday, the Hospital Authority said. Two of the dead were Indonesian nationals working as domestic helpers, the Indonesian consulate said.
The fire is now Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze, and has prompted comparisons to London's Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017.
Police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm that had been doing maintenance on Wang Fuk Court for more than a year.
"We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties," Police Superintendent Eileen Chung said on Thursday.
Yemen's Houthis renewed warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, say...
Police detained hundreds of protesters in New Delhi on Sunday as demonstrations demanding the resignation of India's chief election commis...
AnewZ’s recent reporting from Kazakhstan and the United Arab Emirates brings audiences closer to the technologies, and the decisions, shaping...
The explosion at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon killed at least 12 people and injured a further 309, according to Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority. The airport remains closed until further notice.
Yemen's Houthis renewed warning to airlines, airport workers, and travellers against using Saudi airports, saying the warning should be taken seriously and that the kingdom “bore responsibility for failed interceptions”, a day after an attack on Riyadh's international airport that killed 12 people.
Russian President Vladimir Putin expressed surprise after Donald Trump mediated the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace agreement in 2025, the U.S. President said at a rally in New York state on Friday.
The United Nations has condemned a sharp rise in attacks on civilians in Ukraine, reporting that more than 100 people were killed and at least 429 injured in a single week as Russian strikes hit residential areas, passenger buses and critical infrastructure.
Turkic states are assessing the feasibility of passport-free travel between countries using national ID cards, Kürşad Zorlu, the Deputy Chairman of Türkiye’s ruling AK Party said on Saturday.
Police detained hundreds of protesters in New Delhi on Sunday as demonstrations demanding the resignation of India's chief election commissioner entered a second day, while a court ordered the release of the founder of the youth-led Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and two other senior leaders.
Russian and Ukrainian drone attacks injured civilians and disrupted infrastructure, as U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Kyiv and Moscow had agreed to what he described as an “energy ceasefire.”
Ukraine is ready to stop attacks on Russian oil refineries if Moscow also halts strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.
Air France has reportedly informed its pilots and cabin crew of new Israeli restrictions preventing employees holding certain nationalities, including dual nationals, from operating flights to Israel, according to an investigation published by French outlet Mediapart on Saturday.
Nepali authorities urged villagers on Sunday (11 October) to move to safer places after a flood in a river in the central part of the country swept away several houses and infrastructure, but there were no reports of any casualties.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment