The death toll in the Hong Kong apartment complex fire is rising. Three people have been arrested in connection with the fire.
As a result of a massive fire in the Wang Fuk Court residential complex in northern Hong Kong, the latest reports indicate that 44 people have died, and hundreds are still missing.
Hong Kong authorities have reported the arrest of three people on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with a fire, reports the BBC.
Police said the detainees, men aged 52 to 68, work for a construction company that was carrying out renovations in the building.
Two of the detainees are company executives, and another is a consulting engineer.
Authorities said materials that did not appear to be fire-resistant were found on the exterior of the buildings.
"We have reason to believe that the company's management was grossly negligent, which led to this tragedy and caused the uncontrolled spread of fire, resulting in a large-scale disaster," a police spokesman said.
A 65-year-old resident of the residential complex told AFP that he had lived there for more than four decades, and many of his neighbors were elderly.
"The windows were closed due to renovation work, [some residents] didn't know there was a fire, and neighbors told them by phone that they needed to evacuate," he said. "I'm in shock."
The fire, which engulfed seven of the eight buildings of the high-rise residential complex, was extinguished by more than 700 people. The morning after the tragedy, firefighters were still trying to contain several pockets of fire.
The cause of the fire is unknown; it broke out while the residential complex was undergoing renovations.
On Thursday morning, Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said that 279 people were listed as missing, although firefighters later reported that they had made contact with some of them.
Lee said that more than 900 people had found refuge in temporary accommodation.
As reported by Chinese state television CCTV, Chinese leader Xi Jinping expressed his condolences to the families of those killed and injured in the fire.
The fire was reported at 14:51 local time on Wednesday. The fire was assigned the fifth, highest level of danger. Police evacuated residents of nearby buildings.
Harry Chan, 66, who lived in the second block of the Wang Fuk Court complex, told Reuters that around 14:45 (6:45 GMT) he heard a "very loud noise" and saw a fire break out in a neighboring building.
"I don't even know how I feel right now. I'm just thinking about where I'm going to sleep tonight, because I probably won't be able to go home," he says.
Some residents of the complex were outraged that the fire was allowed to reach such a scale, and criticize the authorities' response.
"When there is a forest fire, they use helicopters and drop water, but why don't they do that here? How can you allow other buildings to continue burning?" says a 60-year-old resident of the residential complex named Poon.
"We live very close to the fire station, and we thought the fire would be put out quickly, but now it has spread. I am so disappointed," she said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.
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