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A massive fire that tore through several large apartment buildings in Hong Kong has killed 44 people, while 279 are still missing, the city’s authorities said.
Hundreds of firefighters were working to control the blaze in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district on Thursday, with 45 people in hospital in a serious condition.
Police on Thursday said they had arrested three local men on suspicion of manslaughter. The men led the construction company responsible for maintenance of the complex and were aged between 52 and 68.
The fire was detected on Wednesday afternoon in Wang Fuk Court, a residential complex with apartment blocks more than 30 storeys high, before spreading to seven of the estate’s eight towers.
Figures from the Hong Kong Housing Authority show one building in the estate hosts 248 apartments.
The city’s previous deadly blaze of a comparable magnitude was in 1996, when 41 people died in a building fire in Kowloon.
Hong Kong chief executive John Lee called the fire a “massive catastrophe”, adding that firefighters were gradually bringing the blaze under control.
Lee said the government had suspended all publicity campaigns relating to upcoming legislative council elections scheduled to take place on December 7 and would decide in a few days whether to postpone the vote altogether, local media reported.
A livestream video of the estate showed the fire had subsided in intensity by Thursday morning, though flames were visible on most floors. Earlier footage had shown flames coming from the buildings, with many burning from top to bottom.
China’s leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed his condolences for the victims.
Hong Kong’s fire department classified the blaze as a level 5 emergency, its highest risk category and the first one in 17 years.
Andy Yeung, director of the city’s fire services, said officers had discovered styrofoam inside the burning apartments, which made the blaze worse, adding that the number of floors on fire had made the flames more difficult to extinguish, according to local media.
Another fire official said strong winds had also been a factor, blowing parts of the bamboo scaffolding and mesh that had been erected around the buildings for renovations to other blocks in the complex.
On Thursday officials said the fire department had found protective netting, plastic sheeting and waterproof tarpaulins, which they suspected did not meet fire safety standards.
