Live Updates: Death Toll From Hong Kong Apartment Fire Rises to 55
Firefighters were still trying to fully extinguish the blaze, a day after it engulfed several towers in the complex. Many people were still trapped in the buildings.
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Joy DongAlexandra Stevenson and Keith Bradsher
Alexandra Stevenson and Joy Dong reported from Hong Kong, and Keith Bradsher from Beijing.
Here’s the latest.
Dark smoke was still rising from the charred husks of several high-rise towers in Hong Kong on Thursday, more than 24 hours after a fire engulfed the complex, killing at least 55 people and leaving many trapped.
Firefighters were using several high-pressure hoses to spray water on the towers to try to fully extinguish the blaze, the deadliest building fire in Hong Kong in more than half a century.
The cause of the fire, which started around 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday and quickly spread to multiple high-rise towers, was still unknown. But the authorities said they suspected that building materials on the exteriors of the towers in the apartment complex had not met fire-safety standards, potentially leading to the fire’s rapid spread.
More than 900 people had been evacuated to temporary shelters as over 1,200 fire and ambulance personnel were deployed to the site, according to the authorities.
The Hong Kong police said on Thursday that they had arrested two directors of a construction company and a consultant on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the fire.
Lai Yee Chung, a senior police superintendent, said at a news conference on Thursday that in one of the buildings, foam boards known to be flammable had been installed outside elevator lobby windows on every floor. The authorities believe there was “gross negligence” on the part of those responsible for construction, she said.
The towers are in a dense complex known as Wang Fuk Court, built in the early 1980s, that includes about 2,000 apartments. When the fire started, the buildings were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding, which is widely used in Hong Kong for building construction and repair.
Here’s what else to know:
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Rescue effort: A fire department official told reporters that the response was hindered by falling debris and scaffolding as well as high temperatures inside the buildings, which made it difficult to reach units where residents might be trapped. The ladders of two fire trucks appeared to reach only about halfway up the sides of the 32-story towers, and the tallest flames were far higher than where the water was being sprayed.
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Fire risk: The Hong Kong government announced plans last spring to begin phasing out the use of bamboo scaffolding in favor of steel, which it said posed less of a fire risk. In October, the fire department attributed the rapid spread of a fire at an office building in Hong Kong’s central business district to bamboo scaffolding around the building.
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Shelters: The government said it had opened temporary shelters at nearby community centers and a school to accommodate residents. Local news outlets published photos of some older residents being helped away from the fire and gathering at the shelters, and they described police officers going door to door to urge people to leave.
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Nov. 27, 2025, 4:43 a.m. ET36 minutes ago
Reporting from Hong Kong
Hundreds of firefighters worked to put out flames that continued to burn more than 24 hours after they were first reported on Wednesday afternoon. The fire has been extinguished in four of the buildings in the complex and is under control in three others, the Hong Kong fire authorities said.
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CreditCredit…Reuters
Nov. 27, 2025, 3:57 a.m. ET1 hour ago
Reporting from Beijing
With hundreds of people missing, injured or dead and several thousand more left homeless, determining compensation for the victims could become a lengthy legal issue. Everyone involved in the construction project could face legal claims, said Oscar Seikaly, the chief executive of NSI Insurance Group, a Miami-based insurance broker and risk management firm. This would include the manufacturers and distributors of netting and other building materials, the general contractor and subcontractors for the construction and the managers of the apartment towers.
North
Site of fire
TAI PO
DISTRICT
Wang Fuk Court
There are about 2,000 apartments
across the complex. Each tower is
32 stories tall.
The fire started in this building Wednesday afternoon.
Seven of the eight towers
were eventually engulfed.
10 mi.
20 km.
China