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Labour department says it inspected Wang Fuk Court as recently as 20 November
Alisha Rahaman SarkarFriday 28 November 2025 07:23 GMTComments
CloseHong Kong firefighters facing extreme heat and collapsed scaffolding in desperate search for flat survivors
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Authorities in Hong Kong warned renovators of a high-rise complex about fire hazards just a week before it was engulfed by the Chinese city's deadliest fire in decades.
At least 94 people died and almost 280 were unaccounted for after a massive fire tore through seven of the eight towers at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on Wednesday.
Firefighters had mostly contained the fire by Thursday evening before one apartment burst into flames again in the early hours of Friday. Rescuers scoured the smouldering remains for survivors as the fire services department vowed to extinguish the blaze by the end of the day.
The Hong Kong Labour Department said it had inspected Wang Fuk Court as recently as 20 November and 16 times overall since renovation work began last July.
Less than a week before the inferno erupted, the department had reportedly notified the contractor of the need to implement fire safety measures. This was one of a series of warnings issued to the contractor about the fire safety measures.
The department told Bloomberg it had received complaints about “issues relating to the scaffolding” in September 2024.
open image in galleryBurned buildings at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po district of Hong Kong on 28 November 2025 (AP)The blaze started on the external scaffolding of a 32-storey tower, engulfed its bamboo scaffolding and construction netting, moved inside the building, and eventually leapt to nearby high-rises, likely aided by windy conditions.
In the wake of the fire, police arrested two directors and an engineering consultant of Prestige Construction, which was contracted to perform maintenance on the building, on suspicion of manslaughter. Authorities accused the “grossly negligent” firm of using unsafe building materials.
Authorities also raided the company’s office and seized bidding documents, a list of its employees, 14 computers and three mobile phones.
open image in galleryFiremen at the Wang Fuk Court residential estate in Hong Kong (AFP via Getty)The fire has put a spotlight on the use of bamboo scaffolding in the city, a decades-old practice, after bamboo lattices came crashing down in flames. However, some experts have argued that the bamboo scaffolding retained its structural integrity even after it was engulfed in flames for hours and that the fire could have rapidly spread because of low-quality nets.
The city's development bureau has discussed gradually replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal scaffolding as a safety measure.
The Labour department said in a statement its inspectors had “consistently monitored” the installation of netting wrapped around the towers and found the quality certificate met official fire-proof standards.
A veteran electrical and building services engineer told the South China Morning Post that several residents noted they did not hear the fire alarms and questioned why the safety system was not functioning during a renovation project.
“If the system was not working, did they give the fire services a heads-up that renovation on the system was underway?” Ho Wing Ip asked, referring to the contractor. “So that the department could make special arrangements in case of an emergency.”
Secretary for security Chris Tang said investigators discovered foam boards had been used to cover the windows of the only block in the eight-tower complex that escaped the blaze.
“These foam boards are highly flammable and the fire spread very quickly, so we found their presence unusual,” he said.
open image in galleryThick smoke and flames rise as a major fire engulfs apartment blocks at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong (AFP via Getty)Firefighters continued to work at the smouldering complex on Friday morning. "We will endeavour to effect forcible entry to all the units of the seven buildings, so as to ensure there are no other possible casualties," deputy fire services director Derek Chan told reporters.
The confirmed death toll rose to 94 early on Friday. Two of the dead were Indonesian nationals working as domestic helpers, the country’s consulate said. Hong Kong has around 368,000 domestic workers, mostly women from low-income Asian countries who live with their employers.
Among the dead was also hero firefighter Ho Wai Ho, 37, who died rescuing residents from one of the buildings.
He was found collapsed at the scene of the fire and immediately taken to the Prince of Wales Hospital, the fire department said. Despite efforts, he succumbed to his injuries at 4.41pm local time, according to the city administration.
Ho served with the department for nine years. Authorities and his friends paid tribute to his “gallantry and selfless devotion to duty”.
The fire was Hong Kong's deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze. It has prompted comparisons to London's Grenfell Tower blaze, which killed 72 people in 2017.
Hong Kong leader John Lee said his government would set up a HK$300m (£29m) fund to help residents while some of China's biggest listed companies announced donations.
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