A catastrophic fire that engulfed Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court residential complex has become the city’s deadliest blaze in decades, claiming at least 128 lives and triggering a sweeping corruption investigation into construction safety practices. The inferno, which began Wednesday afternoon in the northern suburbs, rapidly consumed seven of the complex’s eight towers despite residents having raised safety concerns about renovation work more than a year earlier.
Authorities have launched a multi-pronged investigation focusing on construction materials and regulatory compliance. Security Secretary Chris Tang revealed preliminary findings indicate the fire originated on lower-level scaffolding netting before spreading violently through highly flammable foam panels. “The blaze ignited the foam panels, causing the glass to shatter and leading to a swift intensification of the fire,” Tang stated.
The tragedy has exposed alarming safety oversights, including malfunctioning fire alarms in a complex housing numerous elderly residents. Fire Services Director Andy Yeung confirmed some alarms failed to activate during the emergency, though specific numbers remain undisclosed.
Law enforcement actions have been swift, with three construction company employees initially arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and gross negligence. Subsequently, eight additional individuals—including scaffolding subcontractors, engineering consultants, and project managers—were detained in a corruption probe. Documents from the homeowners association identify Prestige Construction & Engineering Company as the primary renovation contractor, whose offices were raided by police seizing boxes of evidence.
The labor department acknowledged receiving safety complaints and conducting 16 inspections since July 2024, issuing multiple written warnings to contractors about fire safety requirements. Despite these interventions, the department maintained that netting quality certificates met established standards.
Firefighting operations proved extraordinarily challenging, requiring 40 hours to fully extinguish the blaze that injured 79 people, including twelve firefighters, with one firefighter casualty. Deputy Fire Services Director Derek Armstrong Chan described crews prioritizing apartments where emergency calls originated but being unable to reach residents during the fire’s most intense phases.
The human toll continues to emerge, with authorities working to identify 89 bodies among the 200 initially unaccounted for. The victims include two Indonesian migrant workers, with eleven others remaining missing according to consular officials.
Hong Kong has declared official mourning, with flags lowered to half-staff and Chief Executive John Lee leading a three-minute silence ceremony. The tragedy represents the most devastating fire since 1996’s 41-fatality commercial blaze and 1948’s warehouse fire that killed 176 people, raising profound questions about urban safety enforcement in densely populated environments.