Nearly 300 missing as fire continues to burn – Daily Sach News

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has said promotion activities and forums relating to the upcoming Legislative Council (LegCo) elections have been suspended, as the city struggles to battle the blaze.

“The government is dedicated to handling this major disaster. Our priority now is to handle the blaze,” Hong Kong’s public broadcaster RTHK quoted Lee as saying on Thursday morning.

The Hong Kong leader did not specify whether the election, slated for December 7, would be postponed, saying a decision will be made “in a few days after coordinating our work.”

The last LegCo elections were in 2021, which were the first polls to be held after the central government amended the city’s laws to ensure that only pro-Beijing “patriots” could run.

Residents who survived the massive blaze might count themselves lucky to have survived, but they have lost their homes, and many are worried about loved ones still trapped in the burning estate.

A 71-year-old resident surnamed Wong broke down in tears, the Reuters news agency reported. His wife was trapped inside, he said.

Another, a 66-year-old Harry Cheung, has lived in one of the complexes for over 40 years. He said he heard a loud noise around 2:45 p.m. (6:45 a.m. GMT) then saw the fire as it started in a block nearby.

“I immediately went back to pack up my things,” he told Reuters. “I don’t even know how I feel right now. I’m just thinking about where I’m going to sleep tonight.”

A 65-year-old surnamed Yuen told the AFP news agency that the neighborhood houses many elderly residents and wheelchair users. He added that due to the maintenance work on the estate, many residents kept their windows shut and had therefore missed the fire alarm.

“There is loss of property and loss of life, and even a firefighter has died,” Yuen said, adding that he and his wife had been left homeless.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said he was “deeply saddened” by the fire, adding that all government departments were assisting the affected residents.

“The priority is to extinguish the fire and rescue the residents who are trapped,” Lee told reporters. “The second is to support the injured. The third is to support and recover. Then, we’ll launch a thorough investigation.” 

From mainland China, President Xi Jinping offered his condolences to the victims, including “the firefighter who died in the line of duty.”

Xi urged an “all-out effort” to extinguish the fire and to minimize casualties and losses, China’s state broadcaster CCTV said.

A massive fire has engulfed a housing complex in Hong Kong.

There are 2,000 residential units in the complex, which is in the city’s Tai Po district.

Ronson Chan Ron-sing has more.

Hong Kong police have arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the fire. 

The men worked for the construction company carrying out maintenance work on the housing estate.

Two of the men were company directors and the third was a consultant, police said.

“We have reason to believe that the company’s responsible parties were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and caused the fire to spread uncontrollably, resulting in major casualties,” Eileen Chung, a Hong Kong police superintendent, said. 

Earlier, authorities had said that the probe into the fire would look into whether material on the exterior walls of the housing estate met fire resistance standards, pointing to the unusually rapid spread of the fire.

Director of Fire Services Andy Yeung said officers had found highly flammable foam sheets.

The fires started on the external scaffolding of one of the buildings, according to authorities, later spreading first inside the building and then to the other buildings. The windy conditions likely helped the fire to spread.

The death toll from the huge fire which engulfed a Hong Kong housing estate rose to 44, the fire department said on Thursday morning.

A department spokesman told a news conference that hundreds were still missing.

Hong Kong authorities said the fire was finally under control.

Since Wednesday afternoon, teams of firefighters have been attempting to douse the flames at Wang Fuk Court, a housing complex made up of eight blocks in the city’s Tai Po district in the north east. 

The fire was still burning in the early hours of Thursday, although authorities say it has been brought under control.

The fire department said it received reports on Wednesday at 2:51 p.m. (6:51 am GMT) of a fire in the residential complex. It was upgraded to a Number 4 alarm at 3:34 p.m. and as night fell it was declared a five-alarm fire, the highest level.

Firefighters deployed 128 fire trucks and 57 ambulances to the scene.

Earlier, local media had reported that an unknown number of people were trapped in the 31-storey towers — housing around 2,000 residential apartments.

Taipo District Council member, Lo Hiu-fung, told local broadcaster TVB that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.

A number of the towers have bamboo scaffolding and construction netting fitted to their exterior.

TVB reported that the complex was undergoing major renovations.

Read our full report on the blaze when it started on Wednesday here.

You join us just as authorities in Hong Kong say the fire, burning for nearly a day, is under control, though it still continues to burn.

At least 44 people have been killed in the devastating blaze, while authorities have made three arrests. Some 279 people are thought to be missing.

Search and rescue efforts remain ongoing, with reports suggesting most of those still trapped in the high-rise blocks are elderly citizens.

Stay tuned as we bring you the latest developments and reactions.