A terrible death toll is mounting after a cluster of high-rise Hong Kong apartment towers was engulfed in an inferno on Wednesday: At least 44 people are dead, but approximately 279 are still missing in what is already the deadliest Hong Kong building fire in more than 50 years. Accusations of gross negligence have been directed at a construction company that's been renovating the mammoth complex, and authorities have already arrested three men associated with that firm. 

The fire at the Wang Fuk Court apartment complex in northern Hong Kong's Tai Po district broke out on Wednesday afternoon. The property boasts eight, 32-story towers comprising some 2,000 apartment units with approximately 4,800 residents. Built in the 1980s, much of the complex was clad in bamboo scaffolding and wrapped with netting, as a major exterior renovation was underway. 

Even in 2025, bamboo is commonly used in Hong Kong construction work, with workers using zip ties to lash poles together, erecting latticeworks of the cheap, fast-growing, sturdy wood for even large-scale projects. The risk has already been acknowledged -- indeed, in March, Hong Kong development authorities issued a directive mandating that at least 50% of government construction projects must employ metal scaffolding instead, in what was seen as a major step in finally weaning the industry from its centuries-long reliance on bamboo. 

The fire is believed to have started on the scaffolding itself, and officials suspect that various noncompliant renovation materials facilitated the fire's extraordinarily rapid spread from building to building. Windy conditions also played a part. More than 200 fire department vehicles and another 100 ambulances were deployed to the blaze. In a troubling dimension, the complex is home to a great many elderly people. Deputy Fire Service Director Derek Armstrong Chan described the daunting challenge facing first responders: 

“Debris and scaffolding of the affected buildings (is) falling down. The temperature inside the buildings concerned is very high. It’s difficult for us to enter the building and go upstairs to conduct firefighting and rescue operations.”

Even as firefighters faced the herculean challenge of simultaneously extinguishing multiple high-rise fires, authorities quickly took note of troubling observations throughout the complex, with a tower that was spared from the blaze giving them a good look at materials and methods the construction company used in the renovation project. For example, investigators say they found highly combustible Styrofoam attached to the windows on every floor near the unaffected building's elevator lobby.

“We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent,” said Eileen Chung, a senior police official, with that negligence “leading to this accident and the rapid spread of the fire and such serious casualties.” Police arrested three men between the ages of 52 and 68; two are directors of the construction company, while the third is an engineering consultant hired by the firm. The arrests come as each is officially under suspicion of manslaughter.  

Early Thursday morning, with the fires under a significant degree of control after 18 hours of dangerous work by firefighters, smoke continued to rise from the charred buildings, with fires still visible in various places. Several hundred people have been evacuated. In addition to the dead and missing, at least 62 were injured, with many enduring burns and smoke inhalation. Observers dread what will result from a search of the towers' charred husks in the coming days and weeks.  

According to an official statement from the Chinese government, President Xi Jinping "extended condolences" and "urged all-out efforts to extinguish the fire and minimize casualties and losses." Beyond the human tragedy, the disaster is surely a humiliation for Xi and his government -- and we wouldn't be surprised to see more arrests, a crackdown on illegal construction materials and practices, and an accelerated elimination of Hong Kong's omnipresent bamboo scaffolding.