A huge fire burns through a high rise building in Hong Kong.
A deadly inferno torn through a massive housing complex in Hong Kong earlier this week, killing at least 128 people with many more still missing, inthe city's worst disaster in decades.
Officials said the blaze was officially put out on Friday morning local time – nearly two days after fires broke out in the towers of the Wang Fuk Court complex – with rescuers saying extremely high temperatures hampered their ability to reach trapped residents.
Questions are swirling on how such a fire in a skyscraper-filled city with a usually strong public safety record and construction standards could become so deadly, leaping from building to building.
Many of the more than 4,000 people who lived in the public housing estate in the city's Tai Po neighborhood were aged 65 and over.
The exact cause of the fire is not yet known, but a criminal investigation has been launched.
The complex was under renovation and encased in bamboo scaffolding and safety netting – a construction technique that's ubiquitous in Hong Kong and parts of mainland China. Authorities are also investigating whether flammable material, including polystyrene boards blocking windows of multiple apartments, may have contributed to the inferno.
On Saturday, the Building Department suspended 28 other projects handled by the same construction firm across the city and halted work at two separate sites involving different contractors using a similar material.
First responders initially focused their efforts on three of the seven blocks affected.
150 people were still missing on Saturday, authorities said.
Firefighters conducted break-in operations targeting all residential units to assess if anyone remained trapped inside.
The deputy director of the Hong Kong Fire Services Derek Armstrong Chan said earlier this week that firefighting efforts took "longer than expected" because the high-rise inferno was "much worse" than first thought.
The tragedy has prompted a fresh warning from Beijing about dissent in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous region of China, with city authorities urged to crack down on anyone trying to "stir chaos," and officials referencing pro-democracy protests that broke out in 2019.
Here's what we know:
How did the blaze start?
Firefighters first received a call about the fire shortly before 3 p.m. local time (2 a.m. ET) on Wednesday, according to the Hong Kong Fire Department.
The blaze started at Wang Cheong House, a 32-story residential building and one of eight tower blocks that make up the Wang Fuk Court complex, which was undergoing renovations, according to Chan.
By the time fire crews were on the scene at the first building, the scaffolding and netting was on fire. Firefighters began tackling that blaze, but it quickly spread from building to building, turning a single tower block fire into multiple simultaneous multi-story infernos.
At least seven of the eight tower blocks within the complex were affected by the blaze, forcing those who were able to escape the flames into temporary accommodation.
But it quickly emerged many residents remained trapped inside their apartments, with firefighters unable to reach them amid searing temperatures inside the buildings as well as falling debris.
More than 2,300 firefighters and other emergency responders, with almost 400 fire trucks and 185 ambulances, had been deployed by authorities by the time the fire was extinguished at 10:18am Friday.
Hong Kong police said Saturday that many of those initially declared as missing have since been found among the dead, as families identify their loved ones.
Firefighters knew where many people were trapped, Chan said, but the extreme heat prevented rescuers reaching them.
Evacuations, polystyrene boards
A key question for authorities remains why the other tower blocks were not evacuated more quickly once the fire began to spread from the first building.
More than 800 firefighters were deployed to tackle the blaze, with 128 fire trucks and 57 ambulances sent to the scene.
A man was rescued alive from the 16th story of one of the towers in the Wang Fuk Court complex on Thursday, public broadcaster RTHK reported, citing Hong Kong's fire department.
Early Thursday morning local time, a police spokesperson said Hong Kong Police arrested three men – two company directors and a consultant – accusing them of "gross negligence." All three were granted bail on Friday, police said.
The city's anti-corruption body made 11 arrests on Friday as part of ongoing investigations into possible corruption regarding the renovation of the apartment complex.
Police found the construction company name on inflammable polystyrene boards that firefighters found blocking some windows at the apartment complex. Officials added that they suspect other construction materials found at the apartments – including protective nets, canvas, and plastic covers – failed to meet safety standards.
"These polystyrene boards are extremely inflammable and the fire spread very rapidly," Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung said.
"Their presence was unusual so we have referred the incident to the police for further enquiries."
Hong Kong's Secretary for Security Chris Tang said later the mesh nets did comply with safety standards.
What do we know about the victims?
At least 128 people have so far been confirmed dead, including a 37-year-old firefighter who sustained injuries while trying to tackle the flames, Hong Kong officials said.
Officials said the firefighter, who they identified as Ho Wai-ho, was rushed to hospital for treatment but succumbed to his injuries.
More than 100 people were injured in the blaze, including at least 11 firefighters, the city's fire department said Thursday.
Hundreds of residents are now likely homeless in a city where there is already acute shortage of housing and public housing. Many displaced residents and survivors spent a third night in temporary shelters on Friday.
Lee said Thursday the city is arranging a "one social worker per household" policy to ensure that Wang Fuk Court residents get the help they need.
Each household affected by the deadly blaze will receive 10,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $1,200) for emergency use, Lee added.
Additional money will be provided to affected households forliving allowances, officials said.
The families of those who died in the fire will receive 200,000 Hong Kong dollars (about $25,700) from the government, according to Alice Mak, Hong Kong's secretary for home and youth affairs.
A 65-year-old resident of the estate who gave his surname as Ho stood behind police tape on Thursday morning and watched the smoldering tower blocks as he contemplated his next steps.
A resident of Block 1, in the easternmost corner of the complex, Ho said he fled immediately when a fire alarm sounded and counted himself lucky for the relatively light damage his building faced.
"I don't doubt many elderly, cats and dogs are still in there," he told CNN.
Is this common in Hong Kong?
This is likely the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since World War II. Previously, the 1996 Garley building fire, which killed 41 people, waswidely describedas the worst peacetime fire in Hong Kong history.
Disasters like this are extremely rare in Hong Kong. One of the densest cities in the world, it has a strong track record when it comes to building safety, thanks to its high-quality construction and strict enforcement of building regulations.
Also, bamboo scaffolding is ubiquitous in the city, used not only in the construction of new buildings, but also in the renovation of thousands of historic tenements every year.
But the technique has beenfacing mounting scrutinyfor its safety and durability. While bamboo is celebrated for its flexibility, it is also combustible and prone to deterioration over time.
Hong Kong's Development Bureau recently announced that 50% of new public building projects erected from March onwards would need to use metal scaffolding to "better protect workers" and align with modern construction standards in "advanced cities."
That statement drew backlash from residents, many of whom noted that bamboo scaffolding is a cultural heritage that needs to be maintained.
Pressure on Chinese and Hong Kong officials
Such a deadly blaze is likely to pile pressure on both Hong Kong and Chinese officials.
Hong Kong is a semi-autonomous part of China and run by its own local government that answers to leaders in Beijing. But China has also ramped up control over the city in recent years, especially after huge and sometimes violent democracy protests swept the city in 2019. Dissent has been quashed and protests, once a daily feature of life in Hong Kong, have been snuffed out.
On Saturday, Beijing's national security office in the city warned against a resurgence of dissent, calling for the city's government to punish those wishing to use the fire as a pretext to "oppose China and stir chaos in Hong Kong." A pro-Beijing newspaper reported that a high-ranking Hong Kong police superintendent in charge of national security also visited the site of the fire.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to the victims of the disaster, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported.
Xi urged "all-out efforts" from representatives of China's Central Committee and the Hong Kong Liaison Office to do "everything possible" to assist efforts in minimizing casualties and losses from the fire, according to CCTV.
Lee said that he was "saddened" by the deaths caused by the fire, expressing his "deep condolences to the families of the deceased and those who were injured."
This article has been updated with additional information.
CNN's Chris Lau, Jadyn Beverley Sham and Lex Harvey reported from Hong Kong, Catherine Nicholls reported from London. CNN's Jerome Taylor, Ivana Kottasová, Karina Tsui, Jessie Yeung, Eve Brennan, Billy Stockwell and Kevin Wang contributed to this reporting.
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