Early Friday morning Swedish time, the work to extinguish the fire, which broke out on Wednesday evening, was completed. According to a government source, the fire is mostly completely extinguished, writes AFP.
On Friday night, the death toll rose to 94. 76 people were injured, twelve of whom have life-threatening injuries. Firefighters are among the dead and injured.
The fire started on Wednesday afternoon local time and quickly spread to seven of eight buildings in the Wang Fuk Court complex, which has nearly 2,000 apartments and around 4,800 residents.
Survivors have testified that they did not hear any fire alarms, but had to knock on doors to warn neighbors about the fire.
Renovations to the complex had been underway for over a year when the fire broke out. Three men from a construction company have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter.
"We have reason to believe that those responsible for the construction company were grossly negligent," says Eileen Chung at the police.
According to authorities, highly flammable Styrofoam was used in the renovation work, which is being pointed out as a reason for the rapid course of events. According to police, Styrofoam was found at the windows on all floors of the only house that survived.
Hong Kong's anti-corruption unit has also launched an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fire, to determine whether corruption may have occurred during the renovation work of Wang Fuk Court.
All residential areas undergoing major repairs in the city will now be inspected, Hong Kong's regional leader John Lee said on social media.
