Death toll in Hong Kong's high-rise inferno mounts to 75; over 280 missing

Firefighters battled for a second day on Thursday to contain a massive inferno that tore through seven high-rise residential towers in Hong Kong, as the death toll rose to 75 and more than 280 people remained unaccounted for in what authorities are calling the city’s most devastating disaster in seven decades.

The scale of the blaze — unprecedented in modern Hong Kong — has been attributed to a combination of ageing infrastructure, extensive renovation works, and tightly packed units common in older public housing blocks.

The fire erupted on Wednesday afternoon, sweeping rapidly through the Wang Fuk Court estate in Tai Po. Witnesses reported seeing flames racing up the bamboo scaffolding that wrapped the buildings, and thick smoke pouring from apartments as residents struggled to escape. Fire experts have since warned that a blaze of this intensity was capable of overwhelming even well-trained emergency crews, compounding the difficulty of rescue operations.

Some 76 people have been injured, including 15 in critical condition and 28 listed as serious. A firefighter is among the dead, and officials believe many more are still trapped inside the blocks.

Authorities said four of the seven affected towers had been partially brought under control, but flames continued to burn on the upper floors of the remaining 31-storey buildings well into Thursday evening. Full-scale rescue operations are underway, with teams continuing to extract survivors from upper levels, the South China Morning Post reported.

The cause of the inferno remains unclear, prompting investigators to launch a criminal probe. Officials said more than 280 people from the seven charred towers — each 32 floors high — have yet to be located.

In response, the Hong Kong government has established a HKD 300 million (about USD 43 million) relief fund, while hundreds of displaced residents have been moved to emergency shelters.

Wang Fuk Court, constructed in 1983 in the suburban Tai Po district, comprises eight towers with 1,984 flats housing roughly 4,600 residents, census data shows. Nearly 40 per cent of the estate’s residents are thought to be aged around 60, many having lived there since the complex was built.

The estate had been undergoing a major renovation project at the time of the fire, with all eight towers wrapped in green mesh and bamboo scaffolding.

The fire department has deployed 304 fire engines and rescue vehicles and has used drones to monitor hotspots and prevent reignitions.

Police have arrested three people — two directors and a consultant linked to the renovation contractor — on suspicion of manslaughter after early findings pointed to the presence of flammable materials.

A preliminary probe found that highly flammable styrofoam had been used to cover lift windows on every floor, a design choice that accelerated the spread of the flames through corridors and into flats, according to the Post. Officials also said the external mesh and sheeting failed to meet fire safety standards.

Hong Kong leader John Lee Ka-chiu has ordered inspections across all public housing estates undergoing major refurbishment.

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday night expressed condolences over the tragedy and urged authorities to “extinguish the blaze, rescue those trapped, treat the injured, and support affected families,” the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

With PTI inputs