At least 94 dead in Hong Kong high-rise blaze

Housing complex fire continues for second day. Bamboo scaffolds are under scrutiny.

- BY CHAN HO-HIM AND HUIZHONG WU

NG HAN GUAN Associated Press A HONG KONG firefighter searches a building at Wang Fuk Court on Thursday.

Firefighters battled a blaze at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong for a second day Thursday as the death toll rose to 94 in one of the deadliest fires in the city’s modern history.

Rescuers holding flashlights were going from apartment to apartment at the charred towers as thick smoke continued to pour out from some windows at the Wang Fuk Court complex, a dense cluster of buildings housing thousands of people in Tai Po district, a northern suburb near Hong Kong’s border with the mainland.

Officials said firefighters were still working on a handful of apartments and trying to enter all of the units in the seven towers to ensure there were no further casualties.

“Our firefighting operation is almost complete,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of Fire Services Operations. Firefighters were working, he said, “to prevent the debris and embers from flaring up. What's next is the search-and-rescue operation.”

It was unclear how many people remained missing or trapped. Hong Kong leader John Lee said contact had been lost with 279 people early Thursday. Authorities did not provide updates on the missing or on how many were still inside the ravaged buildings Thursday during a news conference.

Video showed rescuers searching in some apartments in the dark. Orange flames were still seen from inside several windows, though the whole complex was now largely a blackened ruin.