Hong Kong fire kills 83, hundreds still missing

A catastrophic fire at Hong Kong's Wang Fuk Court residential complex has killed at least 83 people, including one firefighter, as rescue crews continue searching for approximately 279 residents still unaccounted for more than 24 hours after flames first erupted. The blaze, which ignited Wednesday afternoon in the Tai Po district, rapidly spread across seven of eight residential towers, marking the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since 1948.

The fire broke out around 2:51 p.m. local time on

November 26 on bamboo scaffolding erected for a HK$315.5 million ($40.6 million) renovation project. Investigators suspect the construction materials, including protective netting and highly flammable polystyrene boards found blocking windows near elevator lobbies, failed to meet fire safety standards and fueled the blaze's unusually

rapid spread.

Police arrested three men-two directors and an

engineering consultant from Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, the contractor responsible for the renovations-on suspicion of manslaughter. "We have reason to believe that those in charge of the construction company were grossly negligent," said Senior Superintendent Eileen Chung. Authorities raided the company's office Thursday, seizing documents, computers and mobile phones as evidence