Anger grows and questions remain as blaze kills at least 94

Shock is giving way to anger after a massive fire ripped through a densely populated subsidized housing estate in Hong Kong on Wednesday, killing at least 94 people and seriously injuring dozens.

Authorities say the fire, which lasted more than a day in some blocks, may have been caused by substandard mesh and plastic sheets on the windows of the buildings. Approximately 300 people have still not been heard from.

Questions are rising about how the fire in Wang Fuk Court spread so quickly and who will be held responsible; many Hong Kongers describe it as a “man-made disaster”.

Three people responsible for renovations at the complex were arrested on charges of manslaughter and authorities launched a corruption investigation.

A post that went viral on social media following the fire read: “This is not an accident.”

Some residents explained in interviews that the fire alarm did not go off when the fire broke out.

Kiko Ma, who owns a flat in Wang Fuk Court, said the alarms were turned off for renovations because construction workers regularly use fire escapes to enter and exit the building.

Ms. Ma lives in Canada with her family but visits the Hong Kong apartment several times a year.

Speaking to the BBC, the 33-year-old said: “This could have been prevented… A lot of people did not do their duty,” and claimed the renovation firm used “low quality, flammable materials”.

Residents frequently saw construction workers smoking and found cigarette butts on their windowsills.

“People kept asking what would happen if there was a fire. Everyone was very worried about it.”

It is Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in at least 63 years, far surpassing the toll of the Sham Shui Po district inferno in August 1962, which killed 44 people and displaced hundreds.

Built in the 1980s in Hong Kong’s northeastern Tai Po district, Wang Fuk Court consists of eight 31-storey buildings, seven of which were engulfed in flames. Flats here are sold at subsidized prices, but day-to-day operations on the site are managed by specially appointed companies.

According to the 2021 census, the complex was home to approximately 4,600 people, about 40% of whom were 65 or older.

The city’s fire department on Thursday said firefighters faced major challenges trying to rescue residents, including high temperatures, the risk of further collapse of scaffolding and the small and crowded interiors of apartments.

Hong Kong is famous for its small, densely packed inner-city housing, where many public rental housing tenants have, on average, only 14.1 square meters of living space.

It is unclear how many people were in Wang Fuk Court when the fire broke out, but hundreds of residents were evacuated to temporary shelters and some were assigned emergency housing units.

While police are investigating whether the mesh, plastic and canvas covers used during the renovations met fire safety standards, some experts believe bamboo scaffolding connecting the apartment blocks fueled the fire.

This type of scaffolding is an iconic sight in Hong Kong and is widely used in construction.

Earlier this year, officials announced plans to gradually replace bamboo with stronger, fire-resistant steel due to its flammability and deterioration over time.

Residents of Wang Fuk Court expressed unease over the renovation plans when they were announced last year. Reports of these concerns have now resurfaced online, leading to accusations around a lack of transparency.

Another homeowner, who was abroad when the fire broke out, said the plans were “fundamentally questionable”.

“[Those in charge] He did small acts of kindness to encourage unsuspecting elderly residents to support his plans,” they wrote in a comment on Instagram.

Mr Lai, the sales representative who the BBC agreed to refer to only by his surname, said residents of Wang Fuk Court had previously questioned the high cost of the renovations.

Calls from some residents for the site’s management committee to be re-elected were ignored, he added. This week’s fire was not an isolated incident, Mr Lai said, claiming construction companies “mostly prioritized cost efficiency” over safety.

He stated that last month, a building in Hong Kong’s Central district went up in flames when bamboo scaffolding caught fire.

“When similar events occur, the following question arises: [there are] Systemic weaknesses.”

Hong Kong authorities on Thursday ordered inspections of all housing estates undergoing “major repairs” to check the “safety of scaffolding and construction materials”.