The number of people killed in the devastating Hong Kong apartment complex fire jumped significantly on Friday, as firefighters finally brought the blaze under control 42 hours after it ignited.
At least 128 people were killed and 79 injured in the inferno that rapidly spread through multiple buildings in a public housing estate in the city’s Tai Po neighborhood, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang said during a press conference Friday.
Tang warned the death toll could rise further as there are about 200 people whose situation is unknown. That figure included a number of dead bodies yet to be identified, he added.
The cause of the fire is yet to be determined and a police investigation into why the blaze quickly spread from building to building, turning a single tower block fire into multiple simultaneous multi-story infernos, is expected to take three to four weeks, he said.
Authorities believe the initial blaze started on the lower floors of Wang Cheong house, Block 6 of eight towers that make up Wang Fuk Court, a tightly packed complex that was home to more than 4,000 people, many of them elderly.
Wang Fuk Court was undergoing renovations at the time of the fire, and all eight towers were wrapped in bamboo scaffolding and green protective meshing. Police previously found the construction company name on flammable polystyrene boards that firefighters found blocking some windows at the apartment complex.
“It ignited the mesh nets (and) quickly spread to the polystyrene boards around the windows, resulting in the fire in other floors and buildings,” Tang said.
“After the polystyrene caught fire, the high temperature caused windows to shatter, causing the fire to spread indoors.”
As the mesh nets and bamboo scaffolding caught fire and fell, it spread the fire to other floors, Tang said. Firefighters and residents faced extreme conditions inside the building, with temperatures reaching above 500 degrees Celsius (930 degrees Fahrenheit), he added.
Tang said the mesh nets did comply with safety standards.
Fire rescue efforts were further complicated as some units inside the buildings reignited, even after their flames had been extinguished by firefighters.
