128 people killed in deadly Hong Kong fire

Hong Kong -  At least 128 people have been killed and dozens others remain missing after fire tore through several high-rise buildings in Hong Kong on Wednesday afternoon, officials said.

Firefighters have brought the blaze in control in the Tai Po neighbourhood, officials from the Fire Department said on Friday.

Scores of people are still listed as missing, and an update on just how many won't come until after search and rescue operations are complete, the city's deputy fire chief Derek Armstrong Chan said early Friday.

Authorities said they expected the blaze to be fully extinguished in coming hours.

On Thursday, Hong Kong police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, a firm contracted to perform maintenance on the buildings.

Police said those arrested were under suspicion of manslaughter for using unsafe materials. Prestige did not answer repeated calls for comment.

The fire is Hong Kong's worst since 1948, when 176 people were killed in a warehouse blaze.

Hong Kong's leader, John Lee, said the government would set up a HK$300 million ($39 million) fund to help residents, while companies announced donations.

How did the fire start?

An apartment complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po neighbourhood caught fire at about 2:51pm (06:51 GMT) local time on Wednesday.

The fire began on the bamboo scaffolding outside one of the buildings. This type of scaffolding, made from bamboo poles used by workers during repairs, burns very easily. Once the scaffolding caught fire, the flames quickly spread up the structure and into the building, and then to nearby towers.

The blocks were also wrapped in green construction netting all the way to the rooftops due to ongoing renovation work, which also caught fire, helping it spread faster, al Jazeera news agency reported.

According to local media, the fire intensified rapidly.

The blaze is Hong Kong’s deadliest fire since August 1962, when a fire in the city’s Sham Shui Po district killed 44 people. A fire at the Garley Building on Nathan Road in Kowloon killed 41 people and injured 81 others in November 1996.

Since Monday, Hong Kong has been under a heightened fire alert as dry weather conditions made the risk of fire extremely high.

The fire started at Wang Fuk Court, a housing estate in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district.

The complex, built in 1983, consists of eight high-rise buildings with a total of 1,984 flats. According to local media reports, seven of the buildings were affected by the fire. Of those, four have since been brought under control.

Tai Po is a suburb of Hong Kong near the border with mainland China, and is home to approximately 300,000 residents. It is part of the government’s subsidised home-ownership scheme.

While the exact cause is still being investigated, officials say the flammable scaffolding, building materials, and the tall, closely packed towers all helped the fire get out of control.

Police have arrested two directors and an engineering consultant, aged between 52 and 68, of a construction company.

About 900 people have sought shelter in community centres.