Death toll in Hong Kong fire jumps to 44 killed with hundreds missing 

On Thursday, the firefighters in Hong Kong still battled a massive fire in the aftermath 
of a deadly fire that destroyed a high-rise housing estate killing at least 44 people and hundreds of others still missing.

On Wednesday afternoon (local time) the largest fire in decades to strike the financial centre erupted; and was soon surrounding areas of the already overcrowded Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po. 

The chain started in the evening around 2:50 pm on Wednesday when the initial fires broke out in the eight building residential estate where approximately a thousand units were situated in 32 storey high-rise buildings. The cause of the fire, which hampered the buildings at that moment, was not overcome immediately, but the buildings were being reconstructed and bamboo scaffolding, a traditional and inflammable material, that is still prevalent in Hong Kong, was still being covered over the buildings.

Throughout the night, the police had arrested three men who reported that the flammable materials that were left behind during maintenance work has allowed the fire to spread very fast beyond control.

The witnesses said there was much cracking, likely of the bamboo that was falling, and that heavy smoke was steaming through the towers, as the chased away debris was falling in the air. 

Derek Armstrong Chan, the deputy director of fire service operations, claims that the strong winds and the burning debris were likely to push the flames to the other building.

“The temperature at the scene is very high and there are some floors where we have been unable to reach people who requested help, but we will keep trying,” he said.

By Thursday morning, one of them was a 37-year-old firefighter who died with burns because of the loss of contact with other members in the department, fire service director Andy Yeung confirmed 44 deaths.

The Hong Kong government told them that 279 individuals were missing, but they were later contacted by firefighters. More than 900 inhabitants were forced to live in makeshift places.

Police officers at those shelters found it hard to get the exact number of people missing when the residents, now late into the night, went to report the missing relatives.

Hongkong, which had been hit by some fatal fires in the past in terms of overpopulation, had made tremendous progress to safety in the past decades. Nevertheless, the rate, and severity of the Wednesday fire have made the dread of building safety, building sector and infrastructure degradation revive.