UPDATE: Death toll rises to 128 as dozens still missing in Hong Kong fire

The death toll from Hong Kong’s worst blaze in decades climbed to 128 on Friday, with dozens still unaccounted for, as authorities confirmed that fire alarms in the residential estate had been malfunctioning. 

Families continued searching hospitals and identification centres for missing relatives, with about 200 people still listed as missing and 89 bodies yet to be identified. 

The fire swept rapidly through the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po on Wednesday afternoon, engulfing seven of the eight high-rises and turning the densely populated community into an inferno. 

Fire services said the blaze was “largely extinguished” by Friday morning after burning for more than 40 hours, adding that they had completed a search of more than 1,800 flats. Investigators are examining what triggered the fire, including the bamboo scaffolding and netting in place for ongoing renovation works. 

The Hong Kong government said the fire appeared to have begun in protective netting on a tower’s lower floors and that foam boards and bamboo scaffolding contributed to its spread. 

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Fire services chief Andy Yeung said earlier that alarm systems in all eight blocks “were malfunctioning”. “We will take enforcement actions against the contractors responsible,” Yeung told a press conference. 

Residents described running door-to-door to warn neighbours as the flames advanced. On Friday morning, workers removed bodies in black bags from the charred buildings, with an AFP reporter counting four in 15 minutes, while vehicles transported more corpses to a mortuary in Sha Tin. 

Families arrived throughout the afternoon for identification. At a hospital in Sha Tin, a woman surnamed Wong searched for her sister-in-law and her sister-in-law’s twin. 

“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. 

She said the twins were last heard from on Wednesday afternoon when the fire broke out.

“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.”

(AFP)

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