At least 83 people were dead and about 300 were missing in what was Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades. More than 70 people were injured, including 11 firefighters, the Fire Services Department said.
As rescue efforts turn to recovery, the city is bracing for the death toll to climb much higher.
Dozens of fire trucks crowded the streets surrounding the complex, and ladders extended high into the sky, allowing water cannons to blast the upper floors of the 32-storey buildings.
Singed green mesh hung like threadbare drapes across bamboo scaffolding that had been erected around the towers for renovations.
Police arrested three people connected to the construction company as authorities expressed suspicion that the mesh and foam used in the renovations contributed to the fire’s rapid spread.
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On the ground below, Hongkongers filled the streets, silently filming the catastrophe on their phones. The astringent smell of burning metal filled the air.
Speculation quickly swept across Hong Kong about the possible cause of the fire. Unverified reports circulated among residents and onto social media about construction workers smoking on site, near the scaffolding.
The city quickly rallied. Volunteers carrying food and water arrived at the fire site. Makeshift shelters sprang up at schools, churches and community halls, heaving under the weight of donated clothes and goods, as authorities scrambled to accommodate many of the 4600 people who lived in the towers.
Fire services remain at the scene of the blaze.Credit: Daniel Ceng / SMH
Outside an evacuation centre close to the towers, shell-shocked residents wandered around aimlessly. Their homes destroyed, their belongings incinerated, their neighbours missing, they had nowhere to go. One woman sat in the gutter, crying.
As authorities began the process of contacting relatives to identify loved ones, pain rippled across the neighbourhood. Another woman, so distraught she was unable to walk, was carried out from a community centre by rescue workers.
Amidst the devastation, a splinter of joy. An elderly man had been rescued alive from the 31st floor of one of the towers.
Resident Mr Si, 72, reacts to the devastation that has left him homeless.Credit: Sydney Morning Herald
Elsewhere, Mr Si, 72, had been at a doctor’s appointment when the fire broke out on Wednesday.
He returned to find his home on the 19th floor in Block A on fire. Many of his neighbours are missing.
“There was no alarm. A lot of elderly people would have died because they did not hear an alarm,” he said, tears streaming down his face.
“Everything is gone,” he says.