Death toll rises as rescuers near end of search and rescue mission
The ministry said more than 70 people were injured, including 11 firefighters.
Rescue teams battled intense heat, heavy smoke, collapsed scaffolding and debris to reach residents feared to be trapped on the upper floors of the complex.
On Thursday, a distraught woman carrying her daughter’s graduation photo searched for her child at one of eight shelters that authorities say house 900 residents.
“He and his father haven’t come out yet,” said the 52-year-old man, who gave only his surname Ng, as he cried. “They didn’t have water to save our building.”
Chan said most of the victims were found in two towers in the complex, while firefighters found survivors in several buildings, but did not provide further details. South China Morning Post reported that one of the survivors was found in the stairwell.
Local resident Lawrence Lee was waiting for news about his wife, who he believed was still trapped in the apartment.
Firefighting efforts continued on the second day.Credit: access point
“When the fire started, I told him on the phone to run away. But when he left the apartment, the corridor and stairs were filled with smoke and everything was dark, so he had no choice but to go back to the apartment,” he said while waiting in one of the shelters overnight.
Lau Yu Hung, a 78-year-old retiree, said: New York Times When he just looked out the window, he saw flames rising in the building next door.
He and his wife barely escaped from their 19th-floor apartment in time. “No one warned us,” he said Thursday night, standing next to the burning building. “The alarm did not go off. We escaped on our own.”
Worst fire since 1948
The confirmed death toll rose to 94 early Friday, the Hospital Authority said. It was the deadliest fire since 1948, when a warehouse fire in Hong Kong killed 176 people.
A firefighter searches a building.Credit: access point
Police arrested two managers and an engineering consultant from Prestige Construction, a company that has been maintaining the buildings for more than a year.
“We have reason to believe that the responsible parties of the company acted with gross negligence, leading to this accident and allowing the fire to spread uncontrollably, causing major losses,” Police Inspector Eileen Chung said in a statement on Thursday. Prestige did not respond to repeated calls for comment.
The government added that police seized tender documents, a list of employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones during a raid on the company’s office.
Volunteers provide clothing and supplies to surviving residents following the deadly fire. Credit: access point
Police said they found foam material covering windows in an unaffected building during a yearlong maintenance effort. The city’s development bureau discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.
Hong Kong leader John Lee said the government would set up a HK$300 million ($59 million) fund to help residents, while some of China’s biggest listed companies announced donations, including automakers Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely, as well as Alibaba founder Jack Ma and Tencent’s charitable foundation.
In his telegram to Cardinal Stephen Chow Sau-Yan, bishop of Hong Kong, Pope Leo sent “spiritual solidarity to all who are suffering from the effects of this disaster, especially the injured and suffering families.”
Dozens of people evacuated on the second night after the fire placed mattresses at a nearby shopping mall, with many saying official evacuation centers should be reserved for those in greater need. People from elderly residents to schoolchildren wrapped themselves in quilts and huddled in tents outside a McDonald’s restaurant and convenience stores as volunteers handed out snacks and toiletries.
After the fire, citizens took shelter in a nearby shopping mall.Credit: access point
Hong Kong, one of the most densely populated cities in the world, is full of high-rise residential complexes. Sky-high property prices have long triggered discontent, and this tragedy could fuel anger against authorities despite efforts to tighten political and national security control.
Leaders of both the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist Party have moved quickly to show they care deeply about the tragedy, which is seen as a potential test of Beijing’s control over the semi-autonomous region.
The fire has led to comparisons with London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017. The failures of the government and the construction industry, as well as the companies that equipped the exterior with flammable coatings, were blamed for this fire.
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On Thursday night, Lau Wan King said: New York Times He said his brother-in-law lived in the building that first caught fire. The 79-year-old part-time minibus driver said he waited outside the police cordon near the towers for news for 12 hours.
He said that he called his relative on his mobile phone as soon as he heard about the fire. His brother-in-law said he had difficulty escaping from his eighth-floor apartment because the building was already filled with smoke. This was their last conversation.
“There’s not much hope anymore,” Lau said.
