(VOVWORLD) - A huge fire still burning in a Hong Kong (China) apartment complex that has killed at least 44 people and left nearly 300 missing may have been spread by unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work, police said on Thursday.
 Firefighters work as efforts are underway to extinguish flames engulfing bamboo scaffolding across multiple buildings at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po, Hong Kong, China, November 26, 2025. (REUTERS/Tyrone Siu) |
Working through the night, firefighters were struggling to reach residents potentially trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex due to intense heat and thick smoke from the fire that erupted on Wednesday afternoon.
The tightly packed complex in the northern Tai Po district has 2,000 apartments in eight blocks that are home to more than 4,600 people in a city struggling with chronic shortages of affordable housing.
By Thursday morning, authorities said they had brought the fire in four blocks under control, with operations continuing in three blocks.
Video from the scene showed flames still leaping from at least two of the 32-storey towers sheathed in bamboo scaffolding and green construction mesh, as heavy smoke billowed into the sky.
Police said in addition to the buildings being covered with protective mesh sheets and plastic that may not meet fire standards, they discovered some windows on one unaffected building were sealed with a foam material, installed by a construction company carrying out maintenance work.
"We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties," Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, said.
Three men from the construction company, two directors and one engineering consultant, had been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the fire, she added.