Hong Kong Fire: Death toll rises to 83

Hong Kong fire services say the number of dead has now risen to 83 people, as of Thursday midnight local time.

At least 75 people are injured, and there are still at least 250 reported missing.

Police have alleged flammable scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work may have been behind the rapid spread of the deadliest fire in the city in decades.

As firefighters work to bring the fire under control and make progress with rescue efforts, anger is already swelling among Hongkongers about the causes of the fire.

Hong Kong’s leader John Lee has said the government would set up a HK$300m (£29.2m) fund to help residents and that the city’s development bureau had discussed replacing bamboo scaffolding with metal alternatives.

But some Hongkongers are angry about the focus that has been put on bamboo as a potential accelerant of the fire. On Thursday afternoon, much of the bamboo scaffolding remained standing, with the green mesh between the poles having been incinerated.

The angry people think that blaming bamboo – which the government has already pledged to phase out from public construction works – deflects responsibility from the actual cause of the fire, which is still unknown. Bamboo scaffolding is treasured as an important part of the local heritage, and is something that distinguishes Hong Kong from mainland China, where steel scaffolds are widely used in construction.

Residents of Wang Fuk Court had complained for months about shoddy behaviour from the construction company, said Michael Mo, a former Hong Kong district councillor who now lives in the UK. He was born in the Tai Po area where Wang Fuk Court is located.

Last year, the text of an email purportedly from the Hong Kong labour department was posted on a Wang Fuk Court residents group. Responding to inquiries about the maintenance works, the email said that because the works didn’t involve open flames, “the risk of fire from the scaffolding is relatively low”. It said that the Labour Department’s regulations did not cover flame-retardant standards for scaffolding. The department has been contacted for comment.

The fire has also tapped into the social anxiety in Hong Kong around affordable housing, where sky-high property prices mean that many people live in tightly packed high-rise apartments that can become death traps when disaster strikes.