Lau Yu Hung said he and his wife barely escaped in time.
Most of the windows in their 19th-floor apartment were covered with thin foam as part of the extensive renovation work around their building. The 78-year-old retired resident just happened to look out a window in the bathroom to spot the flames that were already rising up the building next door, in what would become the city’s worst fire in more than half a century.
Mr. Lau was one of the lucky ones. As firefighters continued to battle the blaze a day after it swept through Wang Fuk Court, a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong, the number of deaths rose to at least 55 on Thursday. That toll could go much higher, as dozens of people remain unaccounted for.
Many of those missing were believed to be trapped on the upper floors of the buildings, which were fairly typical of the apartment towers that crowd one of the world’s most densely populated cities.
Mr. Lau said the fire moved with terrible speed as it appeared to climb up the tall apartment towers. He and his wife had to rush down multiple stories of stairs to get to safety, he said.
“Nobody warned us,” he said. “No alarm went off. We escaped by ourselves.”
The authorities suspect that the materials used on the exterior walls of the buildings, including protective netting and sheeting, did not meet fire safety standards, said Lai Yee Chung, a senior police superintendent. In one of the buildings, foam boards known to be flammable were installed outside elevator lobby windows on every floor. Officials believe there was “gross negligence” on the part of those responsible for construction, “leading to this accident and the rapid spread of the fire and such serious casualties,” she said.
Mr. Lau was one of dozens of people who gathered on Thursday behind a police cordon in a public area near the scorched apartment complex. They watched as firefighters atop tall ladders sprayed jets of water into the buildings, as smoke still billowed from them.
Another of those watching was Lau Wan King, a 79-year-old part-time minibus driver who was not a resident of the complex. He came to watch because his brother-in-law was missing.
His brother-in-law was a resident of the first building that caught fire, said Mr. Lau, who was unrelated to the Mr. Lau who escaped. He said he called his relative on his cellphone right after the fire was reported.
Mr. Lau said his brother-in-law told him he was having trouble fleeing his apartment on the eighth floor because the building was already filled with smoke. Mr. Lau said that was the last time they spoke. He has since been unable to reach him.
“There is not much hope now,” Mr. Lau said, trying not to cry. He said he had been standing outside the cordon for 12 hours, waiting for news.
Tina Zhou contributed reporting.
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