Hong Kong Apartment Complex Fire Search Nears Completion as Toll Reaches 128

Hong Kong: Firefighters in Hong Kong continued a final, detailed search of a high-rise apartment complex on Friday, moving unit-by-unit inside seven towers that had been completely engulfed in a massive fire. The blaze, one of the worst in the city’s history, has already claimed at least 128 lives.

Fire Services deputy director Derek Armstrong Chan said crews were focusing first on apartments from which emergency calls were received but could not be reached at the time of the fire. More than two dozen such distress calls were logged as the blaze spread rapidly through the buildings.

The death toll rose to 128 on Friday afternoon as more victims were discovered inside the burnt towers. Secretary for Security Chris Tang, who was present at the site, said the search was still ongoing and warned that the final number could increase further.

The fire broke out Wednesday afternoon in one of the eight buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex. Ongoing renovation work had left bamboo scaffolding wrapped in netting along the external walls, which caught fire quickly and allowed the flames to leap from tower to tower, eventually engulfing seven of the structures.

More than 1,000 firefighters were involved in the operation, taking nearly 24 hours to bring the blaze under control. Even two days later, smoke could still be seen rising from the charred concrete shells due to occasional flare-ups.

Authorities expect the final search to be completed later on Friday, after which the rescue phase of the operation in the Tai Po district — in Hong Kong’s northern region near the border with mainland China — will officially end.

The complex contains nearly 2,000 residential units with around 4,800 residents. Chan said firefighters would force entry into all apartments of the affected towers to ensure no victims remain undiscovered. He said the exact number of missing persons cannot be confirmed until the search operation concludes fully.

Most fatalities occurred in the first two buildings that caught fire. The residential complex, built in the 1980s and predominantly housing older residents, had been undergoing large-scale renovation work.

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency announced an investigation on Thursday into possible corruption linked to the renovation project. Police have arrested three men — directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company — on suspicion of manslaughter, saying that company officials may have displayed gross negligence.

Authorities have not publicly named the company, but Associated Press confirmed that Prestige Construction & Engineering Company was overseeing the renovation work. Police seized multiple boxes of documents from the company offices, where phone calls on Thursday went unanswered.

Investigators suspect that some of the materials used on the external walls did not meet fire safety requirements, which contributed to the unusually fast spread of the flames. They also found highly flammable plastic foam panels installed outside windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of the only building that did not catch fire. Police believe these panels were installed by the construction company, though their purpose remains unclear.

Authorities now plan immediate inspections of other housing complexes undergoing major repairs to ensure scaffolding and building materials meet safety standards.

This blaze is the deadliest in Hong Kong in several decades. The 1996 Kowloon commercial building fire killed 41 people, and a warehouse fire in 1948 claimed 176 lives, according to the South China Morning Post.