Hong Kong fire latest: Death toll rises to 55 as families try to identify victims after blaze ‘contained’
Hundreds still missing as Hong Kong apartment blocks blaze kills at least 55
- A devastating fire tore through residential high-rises in Hong Kong, resulting in at least 55 fatalities and dozens of injuries.
- Three construction executives, aged between 52 and 68, have been arrested on suspicion of murder, with police attributing the fire's uncontrolled spread to gross negligence.
- The blaze, which started on external bamboo scaffolding, was upgraded to level 5 severity, marking the first such incident in Hong Kong in 17 years.
- Among the dead was 37-year-old firefighter Ho Wai-ho, and nearly 280 people were initially unreachable or believed to be trapped.
- Emergency services, including almost 800 firefighters, are working to bring the inferno under control, with Chinese president Xi Jinping calling for an all-out effort.