Tai Po, Hong Kong — November 30, 2025
The confirmed death toll from the devastating fire that severely damaged the Wang Fuk Court housing complex climbed to 146 on Sunday as recovery teams working inside the charred buildings uncovered additional remains. A growing makeshift memorial outside the site drew mourners leaving flowers, notes and prayers for victims of one of the city’s worst peacetime tragedies.
Hong Kong police said members of the Disaster Victim Identification Unit have been systematically combing the affected blocks and recovering bodies from apartments and rooftops. Officer Cheng Ka-chun described the search as slow and hazardous because interiors remain pitch dark and access is difficult; the team has so far inspected four of the complex’s blocks, he said.
Tsang Shuk-yin, head of the police casualty unit, said the most recent searches turned up 30 more bodies, including 12 that firefighters had previously located but not yet retrieved. Authorities reported about 100 people remain missing and 79 have been treated for injuries.
At the site, residents and visitors knelt, bowed and left handwritten messages among floral tributes. Many donated clothes and basic supplies for families who lost everything when the blaze began Wednesday and was not fully put out until Friday. “This really serves as a wake-up call for everyone, especially with these super high-rise buildings,” said Lian Shuzheng, who waited in a long line to lay flowers.
Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po consists of 31-story residential towers built in the 1980s, with nearly 2,000 flats housing more than 4,600 people. All of the towers had been shrouded in bamboo scaffolding covered with nylon netting for renovation work, and windows were boarded with polystyrene foam panels. Authorities are investigating whether safety regulations were violated.
The government ordered an immediate halt to work on 28 construction projects handled by the same contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering Company (PC&E), pending urgent safety audits. Officials said the five-alarm blaze exposed major safety shortcomings at PC&E sites, including widespread use of foam boards to seal windows during repairs. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Three men — two directors and an engineering consultant linked to a construction firm — were arrested the day after the fire on suspicion of manslaughter; police said they suspected gross negligence. Those men were released on bail and later rearrested by anti-corruption investigators. Authorities have since detained an additional eight people, including scaffolding subcontractors, directors of an engineering consulting firm and renovation project managers.
Preliminary inquiries indicate the fire began Wednesday afternoon on scaffolding netting near the lower levels of one tower and spread rapidly after the foam panels ignited and windows blew out, Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang said. Strong winds carried flames from one building to another, and within hours seven of the towers were ablaze. Fire Services Director Andy Yeung said tests have shown some alarm systems in the complex — which housed many elderly residents — failed to sound.
Hundreds of displaced residents are staying in short-term emergency shelters or hotels while authorities seek longer-term housing solutions. “It’s heartbreaking,” said Jeffery Chan, a civil servant who came to pay respects. “Seeing people in the place where we live lose their families, lose everything in just one night — if you put yourself in their shoes, it is unbearable.”
Among the dead are at least seven Indonesian migrant workers and one Filipina domestic helper, their governments said, and dozens of nationals from those countries remain unaccounted for. On Sunday, several hundred Filipinos gathered in central Hong Kong to pray and sing hymns in tribute.
China’s Ministry of Emergency Management announced a nationwide inspection of high-rise buildings to identify and remove fire hazards, citing concerns about bamboo scaffolding, non–flame-retardant safety nets and the condition of firefighting equipment such as hydrants, sprinklers and automatic alarms.
The Wang Fuk Court fire is the deadliest building blaze in Hong Kong since a 1948 warehouse fire that killed 176 people. The city’s deadliest recorded fire remains the 1918 Race Course Fire, which claimed more than 600 lives.