The death toll from the fire in several residential blocks in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong has risen to 12, while another 16 people are injured and an undetermined number remain trapped, according to sources cited by the Hong Kong newspaper South China Morning Post.
A first police report put the number of dead at four and the injured at eight. Among the twelve deceased are eight women, three men and a firefighter, according to the newspaper.
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Neighbors of the complex have expressed outrage at the apparent slowness in extinguishing the fire. A resident of the area, with the last name Cheung, told the newspaper that “the buildings are burning in a chain and no one seems to be putting them out”, and recalled that workers had been detected smoking at nearby construction sites, which had led to fines. A senior police officer in Tai Po has confirmed to the press that, as the fire is not under control in any of the blocks, it is impossible to conduct a floor-by-floor search to confirm that all the homes have been evacuated, so it is unknown how many people remain trapped. In parallel, an animal rescue organization estimated that more than a hundred pets have been trapped in the buildings. The Hong Kong Pet Club organization has deployed two veterinary ambulances to the scene to attend to the rescued animals. Also, the Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong (DAB) party has announced the suspension of all its electoral campaign events for the upcoming legislative elections in the territory as a sign of respect for the victims. The fire, which started on the exterior scaffolding of several floors, was initially classified as a level 1 alarm, but quickly escalated to level 4 at 15:34 local time (07:34 GMT). Wang Fuk Court, the complex where the incident occurred, is immersed in a renovation process worth 330 million Hong Kong dollars (42 million dollars, 36.6 million euros), a proposal that generated discontent among numerous residents last year. The complex has 1,984 homes, which house about 4,000 residents. Incidents like this underscore recurring concerns about safety on bamboo scaffolding — common in Hong Kong due to its lightness and low cost — often linked to renovation activities, flammable materials, or external ignition sources, in a context of high urban density and climatic conditions conducive to drought.
