Death toll in Hong Kong high-rise fire hits 75 as 3 people are arrested

Police in Hong Kong have arrested three men from a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with a blaze that has killed at least 75 people and left another more than 250 others missing in the city’s deadliest fire in years.

City officials who provided the death toll said earlier that at least 62 others were injured, many suffering from burns and smoke inhalation. The fire that started Wednesday afternoon spread across seven of the complex’s eight buildings, though the blazes on four of the towers were under control by morning, the city’s fire services said.

Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung said a firefighter was among the dead. In a press release, Yeung said the 37-year-old had been a firefighter for nine years. “All of our colleagues are deeply saddened by the loss of such a devoted comrade,” he added.

It was not immediately known how the fire started, but officials said the flames started on the external scaffolding on one of the buildings, a 32-story tower, and later spread inside the building and then to nearby buildings, likely aided by windy conditions.

The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread through the bamboo scaffolding that had been set up around the exterior of the complex in the city’s Tai Po district. Live video from the scene showed firefighters aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks as the skies darkened, with smoke billowing from windows and red-hot embers falling to the ground.

Fire chiefs said high temperatures at the scene made it difficult for crews to mount rescue operations.

Authorities suspected some materials on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, as the rapid spread of the fire was unusual.

Police also said they found foam materials that are highly flammable outside the windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of the one unaffected tower, believed to be installed by a construction company.

“We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent,” said Eileen Chung, a senior superintendent of police. The three men arrested, aged 52 to 68, are the directors and an engineering consultant of the firm.

The blaze was first reported in the mid-afternoon and was upgraded by nightfall to a level-5 alarm, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said.

Firefighters deployed more than 140 fire trucks and more than 60 ambulances to the scene.

Police said they received multiple reports of people trapped in the affected buildings. Records show the housing complex consisted of eight blocks with almost 2,000 apartments housing about 4,800 people. It was built in the 1980s and had recently been undergoing a major renovation.

About 900 people were evacuated to temporary shelters.

Lo Hiu-fung, a Tai Po District Council member, told local TV station TVB earlier Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.

“Nearby residents please stay indoors and close doors and windows and stay calm and avoid going to areas affected by fire incidents,” the Hong Kong Fire Services Department wrote on Facebook.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday expressed condolences to the firefighter who died and extended sympathies to the families of the victims, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

Tai Po is a suburban area in the northern part of Hong Kong and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

The fire is the deadliest in Hong Kong in years. In November 1996, 41 people died in a commercial building in Kowloon in a level 5 fire that lasted for around 20 hours.

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