Over 290 missing as Hong Kong high-rise fire death toll hits 55

No fewer than 55 people have been confirmed dead from a devastating fire that ripped through a high-rise complex in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s fire department raised the death toll to 55 on Thursday morning.

Among the dead was a 37-year-old firefighter, who was found with burns on his face half an hour after losing contact with colleagues, according to the fire service director Andy Yeung.

A government spokesman disclosed that 62 people were being treated in hospital, with many suffering from burn and inhalation injuries.

City leader John Lee said in the early hours of Thursday that over 290 were unaccounted for, though firefighters said later that they had established contact with some of those people.

Lee said more than 900 people sought refuge at temporary shelters.

4 dead as fire razes high-rise buildings in Hong Kong

The inferno – the financial hub’s worst in decades – occurred on Wednesday afternoon in an eight-building housing estate with 2,000 apartments and sent shockwaves through the city, which has some of the world’s most densely populated and tallest residential blocks.

Police said early on Thursday they arrested three men in connection with the fire, after flammable materials left during maintenance work caused the blaze “to spread rapidly beyond control”.

Officers searched premises in a separate neighbourhood on Thursday morning, taking away documents in binders in relation to the three people arrested, who police said “acted with gross negligence” by leaving foam packaging at the site of the fire.

Some flats still burning on Thursday, although the blaze had noticeably dimmed during the early hours of the morning.

A 65-year-old resident surnamed Yuen said he had lived in the complex for more than four decades and that many of his neighbours were elderly and might not be mobile.

“The windows were closed because of the maintenance, some people didn’t know there was a fire and had to be told to evacuate via phone calls by neighbours. I’m devastated,” Yuen told AFP.

The Star