Hong Kong Fire: Fresh details have surfaced related to the Hong Kong complex fire incident, where authorities said that eight more people were arrested as the death toll in the devastating blaze rose to 128, with as many as 200 still missing. Officials confirmed the developments on Friday (November 28, 2025) as the investigation continued into the matter.
Hong Kong complex fire: Key points
The inferno rapidly spread in a public housing estate in the city’s Tai Po neighborhood on Wednesday (November 26, 2025). The blaze left several people trapped inside, as reported by CNN.
Hong Kong complex fire: Key points
- As the authorities have warned that the toll will likely increase, the focus has now shifted to what caused the worst fire in the region in decades.
- Fire alarms in all eight buildings of the complex were “not functional,” officials found during inspections conducted following the blaze, according to Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung, as reported by CNN.
- Residents had alerted officials about potential fire safety violations on a renovation project more than a year before a fire devoured a complex of high-rise towers in Hong Kong, according to The New York Times.
- The blaze that erupted on Wednesday at Wang Fuk Court, a housing complex with about 2,000 apartments, claimed the lives of at least 128 people by Friday, injured 78 others, and left about 200 people unaccounted for.
- The exact reason behind the deadly fire is not yet known. As investigators comb through the buildings’ charred shells in search of evidence, they are asking whether negligence played a role in the devastation.
- A New York Times report has claimed that investigators have focused on the quality of construction materials used for the renovation, such as netting that covered bamboo scaffolding to keep objects from falling on passersby and polystyrene foam panels installed to protect window glass from breaking. In September 2024, the estate’s residents had raised concerns to the city government about those materials.
- They wrote to the city’s Labor Department saying that the netting may be flammable, according to the residents’ emails reviewed by The New York Times. They also raised concerns about the foam panels, according to Jason Poon Chuk-hung, a civil engineer-turned-activist who teamed up with the residents in raising their complaints.
- Speaking to reporters on Friday, city officials said that the foam boards were highly flammable and had helped the fire spread at a terrible speed.