Hong Kong’s Chief Govt John Lee (C) and different authorities officers observe three minutes of silence to mourn victims of the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property hearth, on the Central authorities places of work in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2025.
Peter Parks | Afp | Getty Photographs
Hong Kong on Saturday mourned the 128 individuals identified to have died in a large hearth at a high-rise house advanced, a toll that’s more likely to rise with 200 others nonetheless unaccounted for days after the catastrophe.
Authorities have arrested 11 individuals in reference to the town’s worst blaze in practically 80 years as they examine attainable corruption and the usage of unsafe supplies throughout renovations on the Wang Fuk Courtroom advanced.
Rescue operations on the website within the district of Tai Po, close to the border with mainland China, concluded on Friday, although police say they could discover extra our bodies as they search the burnt-out buildings as a part of ongoing investigations.
The fireplace began on Wednesday afternoon and quickly engulfed seven of the eight 32-storey blocks on the advanced, which had been wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and inexperienced mesh and layered with foam insulation for the renovations.
Seek for our bodies continues
Authorities have stated the hearth alarms on the property, residence to greater than 4,600 individuals, had not been working correctly.
Hong Kong chief John Lee, different officers and civil servants, all wearing black, stood in silence for 3 minutes early on Saturday exterior the central authorities places of work, the place flags had been lowered to half-mast.
The Hong Kong (R) and Chinese language flags are flown at half-mast as authorities officers observe three minutes of silence to mourn victims of the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property hearth, on the Central authorities places of work in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2025.
Peter Parks | Afp | Getty Photographs
Condolence books have been arrange at 18 factors across the former British colony for the general public to pay their respects.
“Our most heartfelt ideas are with all those that have misplaced family members and with those who at the moment are residing with shock and uncertainty,” Britain’s King Charles stated in an announcement concerning the “appalling tragedy”.
At Wang Fuk Courtroom, cops from the catastrophe sufferer identification unit, carrying white overalls, helmets and oxygen masks, entered one of many charred buildings to proceed their seek for stays.
They climbed over mounds of bamboo scaffolding that had fallen throughout the catastrophe and round giant puddles of water created after firemen doused the buildings for days to attempt to decrease the temperatures inside.
A resident reacts as she speaks to the media within the aftermath of a serious hearth that swept by means of a number of house blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 28, 2025.
Dale De La Rey | Afp | Getty Photographs
Households and mourners gathered to put flowers whereas some confronted the grim job of images of the useless taken by rescue employees. Authorities stated on Friday that solely 39 of the 128 useless had been recognized.
Hong Kong’s Lee has stated the federal government would arrange a HK$300 million ($40 million) fund to assist residents whereas a few of China’s greatest listed corporations have pledged donations.
Individuals pray on the aftermath of a serious hearth that swept by means of a number of house blocks on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on Nov. 28, 2025.
Philip Fong | Afp | Getty Photographs
A whole lot of volunteers have additionally mobilised to assist the victims, sorting and distributing objects from diapers to sizzling meals.
They fashioned groups to gather, transport and distribute items in round the clock shifts and have arrange a sprawling assist camp for displaced residents beside a shopping center throughout from the advanced.
Home employees from Indonesia and the Philippines had been additionally caught up within the tragedy. Hong Kong has round 368,000 such employees, principally ladies from low-income Asian nations who reside with their employers, usually in cramped areas.
Indonesia stated six of its residents died within the incident. The Philippines stated considered one of its nationals is critically injured, one other is confirmed lacking, and 28 are considered residents of the world however their whereabouts are unknown.
Deadliest blaze since 1948
The fireplace is Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 individuals died in a warehouse blaze, and has prompted comparisons to London’s Grenfell Tower inferno, which killed 72 individuals in 2017.
Residents of Wang Fuk Courtroom had been advised by authorities final 12 months that they confronted “comparatively low hearth dangers” after complaining repeatedly about hearth hazards posed by ongoing renovation, the town’s Labour Division advised Reuters.
The residents had raised issues in September 2024, together with concerning the potential flammability of the protecting inexperienced mesh contractors had used to cowl the bamboo scaffolding, a division spokesperson stated.
Firefighters inside one of many towers following a hearth on the Wang Fuk Courtroom residential property in Tai Po district in Hong Kong, China, on Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Photographs
Hong Kong’s anti-graft physique stated it had arrested eight individuals on Friday together with an engineering guide, a scaffolding subcontractor and an middleman.
Earlier, police arrested two administrators and an engineering guide of Status Development, a agency recognized by the federal government as doing upkeep on Wang Fuk Courtroom for greater than a 12 months, on suspicion of manslaughter for utilizing unsafe supplies, together with flammable foam boards blocking home windows.
Status didn’t reply repeated requires remark.
Public anger over the hearth has up to now been muted, a stark distinction to mass pro-democracy protests of 2019 that prompted Beijing to tighten its grip on the town.
Law enforcement officials from the Catastrophe Sufferer Identification Unit wearing white-coloured full-body protecting gear, collect by the housing blocks of Wang Fuk Courtroom within the aftermath of the lethal Nov. 26 hearth, in Hong Kong on Nov. 29, 2025.
Yan Zhao | Afp | Getty Photographs
But some annoyed volunteers handed out flyers close to the property on Friday, demanding correct resettlement of affected residents, an overhaul of presidency oversight of building initiatives, and an unbiased probe into the blaze.
As with different main hearth incidents like Grenfell, analysts say strain for solutions could rapidly unfold past the development companies to authorities regulators.
The Hong Kong authorities has historically staged open inquiries into large-scale tragedies, usually headed by an unbiased decide.
