At least 55 people have been killed and hundreds remain missing after a fire swept through a residential apartment complex in Hong Kong.
Firefighters continued to battle the blaze at the Wang Fuk Court complex in the Tai Po district on Thursday.
The fire, among the deadliest in the city’s modern history, quickly spread across the bamboo scaffolding around its exterior, with thick smoke pouring into the sky.
Hong Kong’s leader, John Lee, said contact had been lost with 279 people. Rescues were continuing in some of the towers, but authorities did not provide updates on the missing people or how many were still trapped inside the ravaged buildings during a press conference on Thursday.
Firefighters have been trying to control the flames since midafternoon Wednesday, when the fire started in bamboo scaffolding and construction netting and then spread across seven of the complex’s eight buildings.
Fires in four buildings had been effectively put out, with the remaining three towers under control, authorities said.
Three men, the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter. Police have not released any further details about where they work or their identities.
“We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent,” senior police superintendent Eileen Chung said.
Fifty-one people were found dead on the scene, Hong Kong authorities said, and four others died in the hospital. One firefighter was among those killed.
More than 70 people were injured, according to the city’s Hospital Authority, many suffering from burn and inhalation injuries. About 900 people were evacuated to temporary shelters overnight.
Resident Lawrence Lee was waiting for news about his wife, who he believed was still trapped in their apartment.
“When the fire started, I told her on the phone to escape. But once she left the flat, the corridor and stairs were all filled with smoke, and it was all dark, so she had no choice but to go back to the flat,” he said, as he waited in one of the shelters overnight.
Winter and Sandy Chung, who lived in one of the towers, said they saw sparks fly around as they evacuated. Although they were safe, they were worried about their home.
“I couldn’t sleep the entire night,” Winter Chung, 75, said on Thursday.
The fire started on the external scaffolding of a 32-story tower, then spread to the other buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.
Authorities suspected that some materials on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, allowing the unusually fast spread of the fire.
Police also said they found Styrofoam, which is highly flammable, attached to the windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of the one unaffected towers.
It was believed to have been installed by the construction company, but the purpose was not clear.
Security Secretary Chris Tang said they would investigate the materials further.
Around 900 people were evacuated to temporary shelters overnight.
The fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. In November 1996, 41 people died in a commercial building in Kowloon in a fire that lasted for around 20 hours.
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