The rescue phase ends at the devastated Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong. With the death toll soaring to 128, this deadliest blaze in decades has led to manslaughter arrests. Unpack the investigation focusing on flammable bamboo scaffolding and substandard materials that fueled the high-rise residential inferno.
Hong Kong Wang Fuk Court Fire Death Toll
Hong Kong has officially concluded its large-scale rescue operations at the devastated Wang Fuk Court complex in the Tai Po district, marking a grim close to one of the city’s deadliest civilian tragedies in over seven decades. After a grueling, round-the-clock effort by more than 1,000 firefighters battling the catastrophic blaze, the focus now pivots from search and rescue to recovery, identification, and a rigorous criminal investigation into the root causes of the inferno that consumed seven of the high-rise residential towers.
The official death toll has tragically climbed to 128 lives lost, a number that authorities fear could still rise as teams embark on the laborious task of conducting a final, forced entry into every unit of the charred buildings. The sheer scale of the disaster—which also injured over 70 people, including 11 firefighters—has sent a shockwave through the densely populated city, raising profound questions about fire safety standards in public housing complexes undergoing renovation.
