Hong Kong fire kills 128: All you need to know

Hong Kong: Hong Kong firefighters were making a final push to try and find victims and any possible survivors from the city’s worst fire in memory, going apartment-to-apartment in the high-rise complex in an exhaustive search.

At least 128 people were known to have died in the blaze that started Wednesday at Wang Fuk Court in the suburban Tai Po district. Dozens more were injured, and about 900 of the 4,800 residents were evacuated to temporary shelters.

Seven of the eight 32-storey towers in the building complex were engulfed in flames after construction materials and bamboo scaffolding spread the fire. Officials said extreme heat was hampering rescue efforts.

The fire was deadlier than a 1996 blaze in a commercial building in Kowloon that killed 41 people. A warehouse fire in 1948 killed 176 people, according to the South China Morning Post.

Here’s what to know about the fire:

Why the buildings burst into flames

Officials are investigating why construction materials, netting and bamboo scaffolding being used in renovations to the exterior of the buildings caught fire.

In the meantime, authorities arrested three people, the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, on suspicion of manslaughter. Police did not name the company, but they searched the office of Prestige Construction & Engineering Co., which was in charge of the renovations. Phone calls to the company’s offices went unanswered.

Officials said they suspect that some materials, such as plastic foam panels being used to protect windows from damage, did not meet fire resistance standards. High winds helped spread the flames.

The type of buildings affected

About a third of Hong Kong residents live in the government’s Housing Authority dwellings. Wang Fuk Court is privately owned but subsidised housing built in the 1980s.

The basic apartments in the complex measure 40-45 square metres (430-485 square feet), according to online real estate listings. Like most Hong Kong mass market housing, they appear to lack smoke detectors or sprinkler systems.

The buildings were constructed before revisions to Hong Kong’s fire codes required mandatory fire refuge floors.

Hong Kong’s 7.5 million residents mostly live in cramped apartments crammed on scarce flat lands or perched on the slopes of steep mountainsides. Many of those high-rise buildings are crowded closely together.

How Hong Kong’s authorities have responded

Firefighters struggled to bring the blaze under control as their ladders and hoses could only reach just over halfway up the 32-storey buildings, or about 53 meters (174 feet) - under 20 storeys.

High winds and extremely high heat may have prevented use of aerial equipment such as helicopters. The high temperatures also deterred firefighters from entering the buildings to fight the blaze and rescue survivors, said Derek Armstrong Chan, a deputy director of Hong Kong’s Fire Services.

Hong Kong leader John Lee said the government would set up a task force to investigate the fire and the case would be submitted to the Coroner’s Court, which conducts inquiries into the causes and circumstances of certain deaths.

Lee said the government planned to inspect all housing estates undergoing major repairs to review the safety of scaffolding and construction materials. He also promised to provide “all possible support” to those affected by the fire.

Helping the survivors

The hundreds of survivors who were evacuated or were outside the buildings at the time the fire started were staying in temporary shelters, including a nearby school.

There, workers were distributing bottled water, food and other necessities. Volunteers were bringing supplies like water and snacks.

More than 70 people were injured, including about a dozen firefighters, the city’s Fire Services Department said.