Forty-four dead and 279 missing in Hong Kong apartment complex fire

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A massive fire that tore through several large apartment buildings in Hong Kong has killed 44 people, while 279 are still missing, the city’s authorities said.

Hundreds of firefighters were working to control the blaze in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district on Thursday morning local time, with 45 people in hospital in a serious condition.

The fire was first detected on Wednesday afternoon in Wang Fuk Court, a residential complex with apartment blocks more than 30 storeys high, before spreading to seven of the estate’s eight towers.

Figures from the Hong Kong Housing Authority show one building in the estate hosts 248 apartments.

The fire is the city’s deadliest since the 1990s, when 41 people died in a blaze in Kowloon.

Hong Kong chief executive John Lee called the fire a “massive catastrophe”.

He said the government had suspended all publicity campaigns relating to upcoming legislative council elections scheduled to take place next month and would decide in a few days whether to postpone the vote altogether, local media reported.

Firefighters were gradually bringing the blaze under control, he said.

A livestream video of the estate showed the fire had subsided in intensity by Thursday morning, though flames were visible on most floors. Earlier footage had shown intense flames coming from the buildings, with many of them burning from top to bottom.

Earlier on Wednesday, China’s leader Xi Jinping expressed his condolences for the victims. The city’s fire department classified the blaze as a level five emergency, its highest risk category and the first one in 17 years.

Andy Yeung, director of the city’s fire services, said officers had discovered styrofoam inside the burning apartments, which worsened the blaze and that the number of floors on fire had made the blaze more difficult to extinguish, according to local media.

Another fire official said strong winds had also been a factor, blowing parts of the bamboo scaffolding and mesh that had been erected around the buildings for renovations to other blocks in the complex.