Flats Fire: Latest Updates & Reports – NRK Urix

Late on Wednesday, the fire service reports that they have the large fire under control in the housing complex in the Tai Po district in the north of Hong Kong.

More than 800 firefighters have contributed to the extinguishing work.

The police have arrested three men aged 52 to 68 in connection with the fire. They are suspected of negligent homicide, writes RTHK. The three are all managers in a construction company.

At 11 pm Norwegian time, the death toll had risen to 44 dead and the number of critically injured is 45, according to Reuters.

Among the dead is a 37-year-old firefighter. Dozens of people are injured.

279 people have not been accounted for. Earlier in the day, several news media reported that several people were trapped in the large blocks.

Around 900 people have been evacuated to temporary accommodation, the BBC reports.

After almost ten hours of extinguishing work, the fire service is in the process of gaining control over the fire, says Hong Kong’s leader John Lee at 19:00.

The fire crews told of demanding extinguishing work.

– The temperature inside the buildings is extremely high. It is difficult for us to go into and up the buildings to extinguish and rescue people, Deputy Chief of the Fire Service, Derek Armstrong Chan, told the press.

Donate millions of dollars

Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to the victims of the fire during a speech in Beijing, reports CNN.

The president has allocated 2 million yuan – which corresponds to just under 3 million Norwegian kroner.

The Chinese IT company ByteDance is also contributing financially to the work on the fire.

The company donates 10 million hkd for emergency relief and reconstruction. The sum is in excess of NOK 13 million.

Don’t know where he’s going to sleep

The fire service was notified of the fire at 3 pm local time, 8 am Norwegian time. The cause is still not known.

The fire spread to seven of the eight blocks in the complex. The blocks have 32 floors and house around 2,000 apartments.

– I don’t know what I feel. I just take one step at a time. Now I’m just thinking about where I’m going to sleep tonight, says 66-year-old Harry Cheung, one of the residents of the housing complex, to Reuters.

68-year-old YY Chan says she is deeply shaken by the fire.

– When you see so many blocks of flats on fire, where people’s apartments are on fire, how can anyone feel okay? she says to Reuters.

– Although the fire in our block seems to be in the process of being extinguished, it feels terrible to see that it is burning everywhere else.

Spread in bamboo scaffolding

The complex has been under renovation. The fire spread when the scaffolding, which is made of bamboo, caught fire, writes RTHK.

Throughout the afternoon and evening, the fire brigade fought the flames.

But even after several hours of work, it still burns strongly. Photos and videos show thick smoke billowing from the buildings, while orange flames light up the night sky.

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