Police in Hong Kong arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter, several local news outlets reported, in connection with a blaze that has killed at least 44 people and left another 279 missing in the city’s deadliest fire in years.
City leader John Lee said 29 people remained hospitalized. He added that the fire was “coming under control” shortly past midnight.
Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung said a firefighter is among the dead. In a press release, Yeung said the 37-year-old had been a firefighter for nine years. “All of our colleagues are deeply saddened by the loss of such a devoted comrade,” he added.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed condolences to the firefighter who died and extended sympathies to the families of the victims, according to state broadcaster CCTV. He also urged efforts to minimize casualties and losses.
Reuters
The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread on bamboo scaffolding that had been set up around the exterior of the complex in the city’s Tai Po district. Live video from the scene showed firefighters aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks as the dusk skies darkened, with smoke billowing from windows and red-hot embers falling to the ground.
Fire chiefs said high temperatures at the scene made it difficult for crews to mount rescue operations. It was not immediately known how the fire started, but officials said the flames started at the external scaffolding of one of the buildings, a 32-story tower, and later spread to inside the building and then to nearby buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.
Authorities said earlier that investigators would be looking into factors including whether material on the exterior walls of high-rise buildings met fire resistance standards, as the rapid spread of the fire was unusual.
The blaze was first reported in the mid-afternoon and was upgraded by nightfall to a level 5 alarm, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said.
Yan Zhao/AFP via Getty Images
Firefighters deployed more than 140 fire trucks and more than 60 ambulances to the scene.
Police have said they received multiple reports of people trapped in the affected buildings. Records show the housing complex consisted of eight blocks with almost 2,000 apartments housing about 4,800 people. It was built in the 1980s and had recently been undergoing a major renovation.
About 900 people were evacuated to temporary shelters.
Lo Hiu-fung, a Tai Po District Council member, told local TV station TVB earlier Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.
“Nearby residents please stay indoors and close doors and windows and stay calm and avoid going to areas affected by fire incidents,” the Hong Kong Fire Services Department wrote on Facebook.
Tai Po is a suburban area in the northern part of Hong Kong and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.
The fire is the deadliest in Hong Kong in years. In November 1996, 41 people died in a commercial building in Kowloon in a level 5 fire that lasted for around 20 hours.
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