Worst fire in decades for Hong Kong, death toll reaches 128

Residents of the housing complex that was engulfed in Hong Kong’s deadliest blaze in seven decades were told by authorities last year that they faced “relatively low fire risks” after complaining repeatedly about fire hazards posed by ongoing renovation works, the city’s Labour Department told Reuters. People living at Wang Fuk Court in northern Hong Kong had raised concerns over maintenance activity in September 2024, including about the potential flammability of the protective green mesh contractors had used to cover the bamboo scaffolding raised around the buildings, a department spokesperson said in an email. The exact cause of Wednesday’s inferno, which has claimed at least 128 lives, has not been determined. What is clear, however, is that the fire spread rapidly through the exterior scaffolding system, said Jiang Liming, a fire-safety expert at Hong Kong Polytechnic University who reviewed video footage of the blaze.