A fire that razed a huge residential complex in Hong Kong left at least 44 muertos y hundreds of missingthe authorities indicated this Thursday, while the police said they had arrested three suspects.
Fire in Hong Kong, the worst on record
The fire, the worst incident recorded in several decades in the city, began on Wednesday afternoon and continued to burn on Thursday in this very densely populated megacity.
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The flames started on the bamboo scaffolding that was erected around several of the towers of the Wang Fuk Court complex, in Tai Po, a district in the northern part of the Chinese financial center, which was under repair.
Authorities detained three men suspected of involuntary manslaughter, police said, giving no further details but promising a press conference for later.
City firefighters said Thursday morning that at least 44 people died in the fire and hundreds remain missing. A previous balance showed 36 dead and 279 missing.
Deceased and affected
One of the deceased is a 37-year-old firefighter who was reported with burns on his face and was declared dead after being rushed to the hospital.
A police officer at a temporary shelter told AFP that it is not clear how many people are missing, as residents are still arriving to report missing relatives.
Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of operations for the fire service, said: “The temperature at the scene is very high.”
“There are some floors where we have not been able to reach the people who ask for help, but we keep trying,” said the official, who declared that the fire It probably spread from one building to another due to the wind and debris carried by it, although he added that authorities are still investigating the cause.
A journalist heard loud crackling sounds, possibly from burning bamboo, and saw thick plumes of smoke rising from at least five of the complex’s eight buildings.
Agents at the scene stated, on condition of anonymity, not being able to confirm if there were people trapped after nightfallexplaining that “the firefighters cannot enter.”
A 65-year-old resident of the complex identified as Yuen explained that he has been in this home for four decades and that many of his neighbors are elderly with mobility problems.
“The windows were closed for maintenance, (some people) did not know there was a fire and their neighbors informed them by phone that they evacuated,” Yuen said.
The incident was classified as category fivethe highest level of alert, which determines the mobilization of emergency troops.