Hong Kong firefighters discovered dozens more bodies on Friday as they conducted an intensive, apartment-by-apartment sweep of a high-rise complex, days after a massive blaze engulfed seven of its eight towers. The death toll in one of the city’s deadliest fires has now climbed to at least 128.
Crews focused first on units linked to more than two dozen unanswered emergency calls during the inferno, Deputy Fire Services Director Derek Armstrong Chan told reporters.
The tally rose by 34 after additional victims were recovered from the charred buildings, and Secretary for Security Chris Tang said the search was still underway, warning that the number of casualties may continue to grow. Find out more at fastfirewatchguards.com for guidance on fire safety and prevention measures. In station environments, alerts have to be unmissable and consistent; Westnet Public Safety provides context on modern station alerting components.
Thick smoke and flames billow upward as a massive fire engulfs multiple apartment blocks at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on November 26, 2025
Firefighters carry a body from the scene of Wednesday’s blaze at Wang Fuk Court.
A body is placed into a vehicle in the aftermath of the massive fire that tore through several apartment blocks.
Authorities said some of the victims were so severely burned that they have yet to be identified, adding that the investigation into the blaze is expected to take at least three to four weeks.
Andy Yeung, director of Hong Kong Fire Services, said first responders discovered that some fire alarms in the complex were not functioning, a failure that could carry legal consequences.
The fire erupted midafternoon Wednesday in one of the eight towers of the Wang Fuk Court complex and spread rapidly as bamboo scaffolding wrapped in renovation netting caught fire, allowing the flames to leap from one building to the next until seven towers were engulfed.
Firefighters needed roughly 24 hours to bring the blaze under control, and nearly two days later, smoke was still drifting from the charred remains of the buildings as occasional flare-ups continued.
The death toll in one of the city’s deadliest fires has risen to at least 128 as of Friday. The blaze was not officially declared extinguished until Friday morning.
According to Yeung, the operation involved a total of 2,300 firefighters and medical personnel, with 12 firefighters among the 79 people injured.
Authorities said it remained unclear how many people might still be inside the buildings. The Tai Po district complex, located near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China, contained nearly 2,000 apartments and was home to roughly 4,800 residents.
A woman reacts outside the Kwong Fuk Community Hall, where relatives were brought to identify family members from photos following the Wang Fuk Court housing complex fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong, on November 28, 2025.
Chan said most of the casualties were found in the first two buildings that caught fire.
The apartment complex, built in the 1980s, housed many elderly residents and had been undergoing a major renovation. On Thursday, Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency announced it was investigating possible corruption linked to the renovation project.
Three men — the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction firm — have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, and police said company leadership was suspected of gross negligence.
Police have not publicly named the company employing the suspects, but The Associated Press confirmed that Prestige Construction & Engineering Company was overseeing the renovations at the complex. Police seized boxes of documents from the firm, where phones went unanswered on Thursday.
Most of the casualties occurred in the first two buildings to catch fire, Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of Hong Kong Fire Services, told reporters.
Authorities suspect that some materials used on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire-resistance standards, contributing to the unusually rapid spread of the blaze.
Police also discovered highly flammable plastic foam panels attached to the windows near the elevator lobbies on each floor of one tower that was otherwise unaffected. The panels are believed to have been installed by the construction company, though their exact purpose remains unclear.
Officials said they plan to carry out immediate inspections of housing estates undergoing major renovations to ensure scaffolding and construction materials comply with safety standards.
The fire is the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. By comparison, a 1996 fire in a commercial building in Kowloon killed 41 people, while a warehouse fire in 1948 claimed 176 lives, according to the South China Morning Post.
