Authorities probe corruption and negligence in Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades has sparked investigations into alleged corruption and negligence after claiming at least 128 lives at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in the city’s northern suburbs.

The devastating blaze, which erupted Wednesday afternoon, engulfed seven of the eight towers in the residential complex that housed approximately 4,800 residents. Police have made multiple arrests in connection with the tragedy, including three men from a construction company on suspicion of manslaughter and gross negligence. These suspects have since been released on bail.

In a widening corruption probe, authorities subsequently arrested eight more individuals—seven men and one woman aged between 40 and 63—including scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consultant company, and project managers overseeing the renovation work.

While police have not officially named the company responsible for the renovations, documents on the homeowners association’s website identified Prestige Construction & Engineering Company as the firm in charge of the project. Investigators have seized numerous documents from the company’s offices, which remained unresponsive to calls following the incident.

The investigation is focusing particularly on construction materials used in the renovation, including scaffolding netting and foam panels that appear to have contributed significantly to the fire’s rapid spread. Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s secretary for security, revealed that preliminary findings indicate the fire originated on scaffolding netting at a lower level before quickly intensifying as foam panels ignited, causing glass to shatter and allowing flames to penetrate interior spaces.

Records show that residents had been raising safety concerns about the renovation project for nearly a year before the disaster. Complaints specifically mentioned the scaffolding netting as a potential hazard. Hong Kong’s labor department acknowledged receiving these complaints and confirmed they had conducted 16 inspections at Wang Fuk Court since July 2024, issuing written warnings to contractors about meeting fire safety requirements.

Despite these warnings, the labor department stated they had reviewed the netting’s product quality certificate and found it complied with standards. First responders discovered another troubling issue during the emergency: some fire alarms in the complex failed to sound when tested, according to Andy Yeung, director of Hong Kong Fire Services, though the extent of this failure remains unclear.

The intense blaze took firefighters approximately 40 hours to fully extinguish. Emergency crews prioritized apartments from which they had received distress calls but were unable to reach during the height of the inferno. Twelve firefighters were among the 79 people injured, and one firefighter lost their life in the line of duty.

While search and rescue operations have concluded, authorities were still working to identify 89 bodies out of approximately 200 people initially reported as unaccounted for. The human toll extends beyond Hong Kong nationals—the Indonesian foreign ministry confirmed that two Indonesian migrant workers perished in the fire, with 11 others who worked as domestic helpers in the complex still missing.

Katy Lo, a 70-year-old resident who wasn’t home when the fire started, expressed her disbelief: “That’s my home…. I still can’t really believe what happened. This all still feels like a bad dream.”

The city has entered a period of mourning, with flags lowered to half-staff. Chief Executive John Lee led officials dressed in black in a three-minute silence on Saturday from government headquarters.

This tragedy marks Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in recent history, surpassing a 1996 commercial building fire in Kowloon that killed 41 people. Only a 1948 warehouse fire, which claimed 176 lives according to the South China Morning Post, resulted in a higher death toll in the territory’s modern history.

As investigations continue, attention remains focused on whether proper safety protocols were followed during the renovations and whether reported concerns were adequately addressed by authorities and contractors before this catastrophic event.