Hong Kong Fire: A Preventable Nightmare Amidst Outrage

Wed Dec 03 2025 05:47:05 GMT+0200 (Eastern European Standard Time)

The devastating fire at Wang Fuk Court has ignited anger in Hong Kong as families mourn the loss of 128 lives, raising questions about safety and accountability.

A catastrophic fire at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong has resulted in at least 128 deaths and left many residents unaccounted for. Authorities attribute the rapid spread of the blaze to substandard materials used during renovations aimed at improving the estate's housing. Outrage is swelling as victims demand accountability and thorough investigations into safety measures amid allegations of negligence by the management. With inspections underway for other ongoing renovations, the tragedy spotlights systemic issues in building safety regulations in Hong Kong's densely populated areas.

Shock is giving way to anger in Hong Kong after a massive fire ripped through a densely populated subsidised housing estate on Wednesday, killing at least 128 people and critically injuring dozens.

Authorities say substandard mesh and plastic sheets on the buildings' windows may have spread the blaze, which raged for more than a day.

Firefighting operations have now ended, with dozens of residents still unaccounted for.

Questions are mounting as to how the fire at Wang Fuk Court spread so rapidly and who is responsible, with many calling it a man-made disaster.

Three people in charge of renovating the blocks are under arrest for manslaughter, and authorities have launched a corruption inquiry.

A post that has gone viral on social media in the wake of the blaze reads: It's not an accident. Several residents have revealed in interviews that the fire alarm did not sound when the fire broke out. Authorities said on Friday that they had checked the fire alarms in all eight blocks and found that they were not working properly.

Kiko Ma, who owns an apartment at Wang Fuk Court, says the alarms had been turned off amid renovation works, as construction workers regularly used fire escapes to get in and out of the building. This was preventable... A lot of people did not do their duties, the 33-year-old tells the BBC, claiming that the renovation firm used poor quality, flammable materials.

Residents often saw construction workers smoking and found cigarette butts along their window ledges, she adds. People kept asking what would happen if there was a fire. Everyone was very worried about this.

This is Hong Kong's deadliest fire in at least 63 years - already having surpassed the toll of the August 1962 inferno in the Sham Shui Po neighbourhood, which killed 44 people and displaced hundreds.

The complex was home to about 4,600 people, nearly 40% of whom were 65 or older.

It is unclear how many people were in Wang Fuk Court when the fire broke out, but the more recent census figures suggest it is home to around 4,600 residents. Hundreds of them have been evacuated to temporary shelters, and some are being allocated emergency housing units.

Hong Kong authorities on Thursday ordered inspections of all housing estates undergoing major repairs to check for the safety of scaffolding and building materials.