At least 128 people are known to have been killed in a now extinguished fire at the Wang Fuk Court high-rise housing complex in Hong Kong. With hundreds more reported missing, that figure is expected to rise even more.
Fire warning systems in burnt residential complex 'were malfunctioning'
Hong Kong authorities said fire alarms were not functioning properly at the fire-ravaged residential complex in the Tai Po district.
"We discovered that the alarm systems in eight buildings were malfunctioning... We will take enforcement actions against the contractors responsible," city fire service chief Andy Yeung said.
The announcement follows earlier reports that residents of Wang Fuk Court did not hear any alarms and had to go door to door to warn their neighbors of the fire.
"Ringing doorbells, knocking on doors, alerting the neighbors, telling them to leave — that's what the situation was like," a resident told the AFP news agency.
The fire began around midafternoon on Wednesday in one of the complex's eight towers, before rapidly spreading to surrounding buildings that were covered by bamboo scaffolding covered in construction netting.
In the latest briefing, Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters that 79 people had been injured and that around 200 people were still unaccounted for.
"We will endeavor to force entry into all the units of the seven blocks concerned so as to ensure that there is no other possible casualties," Chan said.
The fire broke out in one building at the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in the Tai Po district on Wednesday and then spread to other blocks, each housing apartments with more than 30 floors.
Authorities have launched an investigation to determine why the construction netting and bamboo scaffolding fixed to the buildings’ exteriors caught fire.
Rescue operations draw to a close
Firefighters in Hong Kong have said they expect to wrap up rescue operations by 9 a.m. local time (1:00 a.m. GMT) on Friday, after the massive fire at the Wang Fuk Court housing complex in the northern district of Tai Po.
The estate had been undergoing renovations and was wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh when tragedy struck, claiming at least 83 lives and injuring 77 others, of which 12 are critically wounded.
Deputy fire services director Derek Chan told an early-morning Friday briefing that firefighters would focus on three calls for help that they received late on Thursday, out of 25 outstanding requests for assistance.
"At the same time, we'll endeavor to effect forcible entry to all the units of the seven buildings, so as to ensure there are no other possible casualties," he told reporters.
Chan said after the operation is complete, they’ll be able to give a complete tally of the number of missing, which currently believed to be around 250 people.
Pope Leo sends message of solidarity to 'all those suffering'
Pope Leo XIV sent a message of condolences to one of the larger Catholic communities in China, saying he was saddened by the fire.
In a telegram to Hong Kong's bishop, Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, Leo sent "spiritual solidarity to all those suffering from the effects of this calamity, especially the injured and the families who grieve."
The pontiff this week embarked on his first ecumenical foreign trip since taking office in May, traveling first to Turkey and then on to Lebanon. He was in the capital Ankara on Thursday for a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan but departed for Istanbul later in the day.
The Church estimates Hong Kong's Catholic population to be somewhere in the region of 600,000 people, almost 400,000 local residents and around 200,000 more non-permanent residents, the lion's share of them from the Philippines.
