Hong Kong on Saturday mourned the deaths of 128 people after an enormous fire gutted high-rise buildings at an apartment complex in the district of Tai Po.
The death toll is expected to rise, with an additional 200 residents still unaccounted for days after the disaster.
At least two of the dead were domestic workers from Indonesia, the country's consulate said. Dozens of domestic workers from the Philippines were also caught up in the disaster and 19 were still missing, said Edwina Antonio, executive director at Bethune House, a refuge association for migrant women.
Authorities have arrested 11 people in connection with the city's worst blaze in nearly 80 years as they investigate possible corruption and the use of unsafe materials during renovations at the Wang Fuk Court complex.
Rescue operations at the site concluded on Friday, although police said they expect to find more bodies as they search the burnt-out buildings as part of continuing investigations.
The fire started on Wednesday afternoon and rapidly engulfed seven of the eight towers at the complex, each with 32 floors, which were wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green mesh and layered with foam insulation for the renovations.
It took more than 1,000 firefighters about 24 hours to bring the blaze under control.
Search for bodies continue
Authorities said fire alarms at the estate, home to more than 4,600 people, had not been working properly.
Hong Kong's leadership including officials and civil servants, all dressed in black, stood in silence for three minutes early on Saturday outside the central government offices, where flags were lowered to half-mast.
Condolence books were set up at 18 points for the public to pay their respects.
Britain's King Charles sent his condolences to China over the "appalling tragedy".
"Our most heartfelt thoughts are with all those who have lost loved ones and with those that are now living with shock and uncertainty," he said.
At Wang Fuk Court, police officers from the disaster victim identification unit, wearing white overalls, helmets and oxygen masks, entered one of the charred buildings to continue their search for remains.
They climbed over mounds of bamboo scaffolding that had fallen during the disaster and around large puddles of water created after firemen doused the buildings for days to try to lower the temperatures inside.
Families and mourners gathered to lay flowers while some faced the grim task of looking at photographs of the dead taken by rescue workers. Authorities said on Friday that only 39 of the 128 dead had been identified.
What's next for residents?
The fire is Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze. It has prompted comparisons to London's Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 people in 2017.
The scale of the disaster presents an acute challenge to a city notorious for its housing shortage and sky-high rents. Hong Kong's leader John Lee has pledged to offer about 1,800 units in existing public housing to help accommodate the evacuees.
The government announced on Friday that each affected household will receive an additional HK$50,000 ($6,400) in living allowance next week.
For many, this help can’t come soon enough. At least 30 people huddled overnight inside a shopping mall not far from the fire’s epicentre in Wang Fuk Court.
With seven of the eight towers at the complex affected by the blaze, the number of people who lost their homes could be in the thousands, although there is no exact figure at this point. As of Friday night, the government said more than 700 residents used nine temporary shelters.
Authorities had received requests from about 1,200 families to register for the emergency handouts as of 4pm on Friday and hoped to complete the disbursement within the next two days, according to Alice Mak, Hong Kong’s secretary for home and youth affairs.
Mr Lee added that the government would set up a HK$300 million ($40 million) fund to help residents while some of China's biggest listed companies have pledged donations.
Hundreds of volunteers have also mobilised to help the victims, sorting and distributing items from diapers to hot food.
They formed teams to collect, transport and distribute goods in round-the-clock shifts and have set up a sprawling support camp for displaced residents beside a shopping mall across from the complex.
Warnings and complaints
Residents of Wang Fuk Court were told by authorities last year that they faced 'relatively low fire risks' after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation, the city's Labour Department told Reuters.
The residents had raised concerns in September 2024, including about the potential flammability of the protective green mesh contractors had used to cover the bamboo scaffolding, a department spokesperson said.
Hong Kong's anti-graft body said it had arrested eight people on Friday including an engineering consultant, a scaffolding subcontractor and an intermediary.
Earlier, police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm identified by the government as doing maintenance on Wang Fuk Court for more than a year, on suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials, including flammable foam boards blocking windows.
- with inputs from Reuters and Bloomberg
