Hong Kong Fire Kills 128 in Tai Po Housing Estate

A massive fire tore through a residential complex in Hong Kong's Tai Po district on Wednesday afternoon, killing at least 128 people and injuring 79 others, including 11 firefighters, in the city's deadliest blaze in seven decades. The inferno engulfed seven of the eight 32-story blocks at Wang Fuk Court, a public housing estate built in the early 1980s and home to around 4,500 residents, leaving approximately 200 people unaccounted for as search and rescue operations concluded on Friday.

The fire, which authorities classified as a No. 5 alarm, the highest level, began around 2:51 p.m. and raged for more than 43 hours before firefighters brought it under control. Officials said the blaze originated on protective netting covering bamboo scaffolding used in ongoing renovations and spread rapidly due to highly flammable polystyrene foam boards sealing windows on every floor. These materials, along with the scaffolding, ignited and blocked evacuation routes, trapping many residents inside. One survivor, a woman identified as Ms. Lam, described the chaos to reporters: "The alarm was all off because of the renovation of the outside. So there is no alarm to let all the people know....