The death toll from the catastrophic fire that swept through Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court estate has climbed to 159, marking the world’s deadliest residential building blaze in more than four decades.
As emergency teams finish combing the charred towers in Tai Po, police warn the fatalities may still rise – “suspected human bones” discovered during the search will undergo forensic testing before the figure can be finalised.
The tragedy has prompted citywide enforcement action, with the secretary for development, Bernadette Linn, directing all buildings undergoing major maintenance to dismantle their scaffolding mesh by Saturday.
Local reports estimate roughly 200 buildings will be affected.
Authorities earlier confirmed that flammable foam panels and non-fire-retardant netting wrapped around bamboo scaffolding contributed to the fire’s devastating speed.
The estate, under renovation since July last year, burned for 43 uninterrupted hours. The blaze raced across seven of the complex’s eight towers, trapping residents and overwhelming fire crews.
More than 2,900 people have since been placed in temporary shelters, while residents of the only unaffected block have been allowed short visits to retrieve essential belongings.
Mourning has become the daily rhythm around the ruined towers. A small park nearby has been filled with flowers, handwritten notes and lines of colourful origami cranes.
“I hope people can come here to lay their grief to rest,” said volunteer organiser Sarah Lam, who described the victims as having suffered “many injustices”.
She was quoted as saying by The Guardian: “I hope the truth is uncovered swiftly … so they don’t need to depart this world bearing such undeserved grievances.”
Forrest Li, 26, called the memorial space a “bridge”, enabling “communication and the expression of grief through this unspoken connection” between the living and the dead.
Yet the public’s calls for accountability have collided with a political environment transformed by the 2020 National Security Law. While families and supporters demand an independent investigation, authorities have adopted an increasingly combative tone.
City leader John Lee has cautioned against crimes that “exploit the tragedy”, while Beijing’s national security arm in Hong Kong denounced “external hostile forces [that] have seized upon the disaster to stir up trouble and incite chaos”.
“All acts and words aimed at destabilising Hong Kong will be recorded and pursued for life,” the Office for Safeguarding National Security said.
Police have arrested 21 people so far, including 15 on suspicion of manslaughter. Additional suspects were detained over the estate’s fire alarms, which reportedly failed during the blaze.
Separately, individuals, including a 24-year-old student and a former district councillor, were detained on suspicion of sedition after distributing materials related to the fire, although they were later released.
Whether prosecutors can successfully pursue manslaughter charges remains uncertain. Legal and engineering experts caution that existing building regulations may not provide straightforward grounds for establishing criminal liability.
Veteran criminal lawyer Stephen Hung Wan-shun noted that the bar for such prosecutions is extremely high.
Prosecutors would need to show that individuals involved “turned a blind eye” to substandard materials and engaged in “gross negligence”. He told the South China Morning Post that: “There must be some unlawful act – but what is that?”
Arthur McInnis, an adjunct professor at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology’s department of civil and environmental engineering, said that Hong Kong has yet to codify corporate manslaughter, meaning it will be “harder to hold the directors liable on behalf of the company” even if contractors contributed to unsafe conditions.
He also pointed out that non-permanent renovation materials are subject to far less oversight than those used in new construction projects.
Meanwhile, thousands have turned out to assist displaced families, volunteer, document events, and insist on transparency. As one activist noted, even under the threat of consequences, Hongkongers continue to show solidarity. “This shows Hong Kong people have not been tamed. We still care about Hong Kong. We still care about politics,” Chung Ching Kwong, senior analyst at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international alliance of parliamentarians, told the New York Times.
“We know there are things we cannot say or do because of safety, but when there is space and when there is a need, we will still stand up and make our own decisions, even at personal risks.”
