The fire was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
By AFP
November 27, 2025
ALL THAT IS SOLID MELTS INO AIR
Authorities have begun investigating what sparked the blaze -- Hong Kong's worst in almost 80 years -
Holmes Chan, Sammy Heung and Anne Chan
Families of the scores still missing after Hong Kong’s worst blaze in decades scoured hospitals Friday as firefighters searched the last of the torched housing estate’s flats, with the death toll now at least 94.
The flames took hold in Wang Fuk Court in northern Tai Po district on Wednesday afternoon and spread quickly among its eight buildings, turning into an inferno that burned for over 36 hours.
Authorities have begun investigating what sparked the fire, including examining the presence of the bamboo scaffolding and plastic mesh wrapped around the structures as part of a major renovation.
On Friday workers carried black body bags out of the charred apartment blocks, with an AFP reporter counting four in the space of a 15-minute period.
Vehicles unloaded multiple bodies at a mortuary in nearby Sha Tin, another reporter saw, with families expected to arrive in the afternoon for identification.
Many people remain missing, although the exact number has not been updated since early Thursday.
At a hospital in Sha Tin, a woman surnamed Wong was looking for her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law’s twin sister, with no luck.
“We still cannot find them. So we are going to different hospitals to ask if they have good news,” the 38-year-old told AFP in tears.
“We were already waiting at the Prince of Wales Hospital on the first day but there was no news. We also came here yesterday.”
On Friday authorities said more than 50 people were still hospitalised, with 12 in critical and 28 in serious condition.
The last contact anyone had with the twins was on Wednesday, said Wong, less than an hour before the fire was reported.
“One building went up in flames and it spread to two more blocks in less than 15 minutes,” a 77-year-old eyewitness surnamed Mui told AFP.
“It was very quick. It was burning red, I shudder to think about it.”
The fire service said earlier it would conduct search and rescue responses to 25 remaining requests for help and break into all flats on the estate by 9 am (0100 GMT) Friday.
Small wisps of white smoke were still trailing out of the estate, with authorities saying in the morning the fire had been contained to four of the sprawling complex’s almost 2,000 units.
– Investigations begun –
The fire was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
Deadly fires were once a regular scourge in densely populated Hong Kong, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, but improved safety measures have made them far less common.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body said Thursday it had launched a probe into renovation work at the complex, hours after police said they had arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site.
Residents of the estate told AFP that they did not hear any fire alarms and had to go door-to-door to alert neighbours to the danger.
Hong Kong authorities will immediately inspect all housing estates undergoing major work following the disaster, city leader Lee said Thursday, with the city’s number-two official Eric Chan adding it was “imperative to expedite the full transition to metal scaffolding”.
Of the 94 people confirmed dead as of 6:00 am local time (22:00 GMT Thursday), one was a 37-year-old firefighter and two were Indonesians working as migrant domestic workers.
Hong Kong’s government said it was setting up a HK$300 million ($38.5 million) fund to help victims of the fire.
City authorities said they had opened nine shelters and were organising temporary accommodation and emergency funds for those who had lost their homes.
Activities around Hong Kong’s legislative elections, set to take place on December 7, have been suspended.
– ‘Everyone lends support’ –
Some of the residents in adjacent blocks who had been evacuated as a precaution were allowed back into their homes on Thursday afternoon.
A spontaneous community effort to help firefighters and those displaced had by Friday become a well-oiled machine.
At a nearby public square, separate supply stations for clothes, food and household supplies had been set up, as well as booths providing medical and psychological care.
So much was donated that organisers put out a call on social media saying there was no need for more.
“It’s truly touching,” said 38-year-old Stone Ngai, one of the organisers of an impromptu aid station, on Thursday.
“The spirit of Hong Kong people is that when one is in trouble, everyone lends support… It shows that Hong Kong people are full of love.”
Authorities have begun investigating what sparked the blaze -- Hong Kong's worst in almost 80 years -
Copyright AFP Philip FONG
Holmes Chan, Sammy Heung and Anne Chan
Families of the scores still missing after Hong Kong’s worst blaze in decades scoured hospitals Friday as firefighters searched the last of the torched housing estate’s flats, with the death toll now at least 94.
The flames took hold in Wang Fuk Court in northern Tai Po district on Wednesday afternoon and spread quickly among its eight buildings, turning into an inferno that burned for over 36 hours.
Authorities have begun investigating what sparked the fire, including examining the presence of the bamboo scaffolding and plastic mesh wrapped around the structures as part of a major renovation.
On Friday workers carried black body bags out of the charred apartment blocks, with an AFP reporter counting four in the space of a 15-minute period.
Vehicles unloaded multiple bodies at a mortuary in nearby Sha Tin, another reporter saw, with families expected to arrive in the afternoon for identification.
Many people remain missing, although the exact number has not been updated since early Thursday.
At a hospital in Sha Tin, a woman surnamed Wong was looking for her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law’s twin sister, with no luck.
“We still cannot find them. So we are going to different hospitals to ask if they have good news,” the 38-year-old told AFP in tears.
“We were already waiting at the Prince of Wales Hospital on the first day but there was no news. We also came here yesterday.”
On Friday authorities said more than 50 people were still hospitalised, with 12 in critical and 28 in serious condition.
The last contact anyone had with the twins was on Wednesday, said Wong, less than an hour before the fire was reported.
“One building went up in flames and it spread to two more blocks in less than 15 minutes,” a 77-year-old eyewitness surnamed Mui told AFP.
“It was very quick. It was burning red, I shudder to think about it.”
The fire service said earlier it would conduct search and rescue responses to 25 remaining requests for help and break into all flats on the estate by 9 am (0100 GMT) Friday.
Small wisps of white smoke were still trailing out of the estate, with authorities saying in the morning the fire had been contained to four of the sprawling complex’s almost 2,000 units.
– Investigations begun –
The fire was Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when an explosion followed by a fire killed at least 135 people.
Deadly fires were once a regular scourge in densely populated Hong Kong, especially in poorer neighbourhoods, but improved safety measures have made them far less common.
Hong Kong’s anti-corruption body said Thursday it had launched a probe into renovation work at the complex, hours after police said they had arrested three men on suspicion of negligently leaving foam packaging at the fire site.
Residents of the estate told AFP that they did not hear any fire alarms and had to go door-to-door to alert neighbours to the danger.
Hong Kong authorities will immediately inspect all housing estates undergoing major work following the disaster, city leader Lee said Thursday, with the city’s number-two official Eric Chan adding it was “imperative to expedite the full transition to metal scaffolding”.
Of the 94 people confirmed dead as of 6:00 am local time (22:00 GMT Thursday), one was a 37-year-old firefighter and two were Indonesians working as migrant domestic workers.
Hong Kong’s government said it was setting up a HK$300 million ($38.5 million) fund to help victims of the fire.
City authorities said they had opened nine shelters and were organising temporary accommodation and emergency funds for those who had lost their homes.
Activities around Hong Kong’s legislative elections, set to take place on December 7, have been suspended.
– ‘Everyone lends support’ –
Some of the residents in adjacent blocks who had been evacuated as a precaution were allowed back into their homes on Thursday afternoon.
A spontaneous community effort to help firefighters and those displaced had by Friday become a well-oiled machine.
At a nearby public square, separate supply stations for clothes, food and household supplies had been set up, as well as booths providing medical and psychological care.
So much was donated that organisers put out a call on social media saying there was no need for more.
“It’s truly touching,” said 38-year-old Stone Ngai, one of the organisers of an impromptu aid station, on Thursday.
“The spirit of Hong Kong people is that when one is in trouble, everyone lends support… It shows that Hong Kong people are full of love.”
What we know about Hong Kong’s deadly high-rise fire
By AFP
November 26, 2025
Hong Kong has been struck by one of its deadliest fires ever - Copyright AFP Peter PARKS
A devastating fire tore through a Hong Kong high-rise residential complex, killing dozens of people with hundreds still missing.
The inferno — the financial hub’s worst in decades — sent shock waves through the city, which has some of the world’s most densely populated and tallest residential blocks.
Here’s what we know about the fire and its possible cause:
– Inferno –
Intense flames burned on bamboo scaffolding on several apartment blocks of Wang Fuk Court, a residential complex undergoing repairs in the northern district of Tai Po, on Wednesday.
The blaze rapidly engulfed several towers at the housing estate, which includes eight buildings of 31 floors each and that have a combined total of 1,984 units.
Firefighters, one of whom was killed, battled the inferno overnight and it was still burning in spots on Thursday morning.
Hong Kong’s fire department said at least 44 people have died and authorities have said hundreds remain missing.
Around 900 residents have been moved to temporary shelters and dozens were in hospital, some in critical condition.
-Tightly packed city-
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world, making urban disasters a significant risk.
Its 7.5 million residents are squeezed into islands covered in steep hills.
The city’s population density is more than 7,100 people per square kilometre of land, on par with packed metropolises like Tokyo.
-Vertical living-
The financial hub is famous for its dramatic skyline of sky scrapers set against a picturesque harbour, many of which are home to residents as well as as banks and commercial offices.
The city’s construction boom in past decades has been largely fuelled by residential towers to house its growing population.
Much of the new residential development in recent decades has been in the New Territories, the area where Tai Po is located.
Hong Kong has 569 buildings above 150 metres, the most in the world, according to a tracker from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
– Bamboo, wind, sheeting –
The original source of the fire is not clear but investigators were already probing the installation of flammable materials during the construction on the buildings as a potential factor in the dramatic escalation of the blaze.
Police have arrested three men from the construction company involved, accusing the firm of gross negligence leading to the accident and causing the fire “to spread rapidly beyond control”.
The external walls of the soaring residential towers were covered in bamboo scaffolding and wrapped in netting and plastic sheeting.
Police said after preliminary investigations they suspected many of those materials did not meet fire safety standards.
Investigators also found packaging foam at the site which they said was highly flammable and could have contributed to the quick progression of the blaze.
Breezes of around 14 kilometres (nine miles) an hour were recorded in the area around the time the fire started on Wednesday afternoon.
By AFP
November 26, 2025
Hong Kong has been struck by one of its deadliest fires ever - Copyright AFP Peter PARKS
A devastating fire tore through a Hong Kong high-rise residential complex, killing dozens of people with hundreds still missing.
The inferno — the financial hub’s worst in decades — sent shock waves through the city, which has some of the world’s most densely populated and tallest residential blocks.
Here’s what we know about the fire and its possible cause:
– Inferno –
Intense flames burned on bamboo scaffolding on several apartment blocks of Wang Fuk Court, a residential complex undergoing repairs in the northern district of Tai Po, on Wednesday.
The blaze rapidly engulfed several towers at the housing estate, which includes eight buildings of 31 floors each and that have a combined total of 1,984 units.
Firefighters, one of whom was killed, battled the inferno overnight and it was still burning in spots on Thursday morning.
Hong Kong’s fire department said at least 44 people have died and authorities have said hundreds remain missing.
Around 900 residents have been moved to temporary shelters and dozens were in hospital, some in critical condition.
-Tightly packed city-
Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world, making urban disasters a significant risk.
Its 7.5 million residents are squeezed into islands covered in steep hills.
The city’s population density is more than 7,100 people per square kilometre of land, on par with packed metropolises like Tokyo.
-Vertical living-
The financial hub is famous for its dramatic skyline of sky scrapers set against a picturesque harbour, many of which are home to residents as well as as banks and commercial offices.
The city’s construction boom in past decades has been largely fuelled by residential towers to house its growing population.
Much of the new residential development in recent decades has been in the New Territories, the area where Tai Po is located.
Hong Kong has 569 buildings above 150 metres, the most in the world, according to a tracker from the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat.
– Bamboo, wind, sheeting –
The original source of the fire is not clear but investigators were already probing the installation of flammable materials during the construction on the buildings as a potential factor in the dramatic escalation of the blaze.
Police have arrested three men from the construction company involved, accusing the firm of gross negligence leading to the accident and causing the fire “to spread rapidly beyond control”.
The external walls of the soaring residential towers were covered in bamboo scaffolding and wrapped in netting and plastic sheeting.
Police said after preliminary investigations they suspected many of those materials did not meet fire safety standards.
Investigators also found packaging foam at the site which they said was highly flammable and could have contributed to the quick progression of the blaze.
Breezes of around 14 kilometres (nine miles) an hour were recorded in the area around the time the fire started on Wednesday afternoon.
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