HONG KONG — Dark smoke was still rising from the charred husks of several high-rise towers in Hong Kong on Thursday, more than 24 hours after a fire engulfed the complex, killing at least 83 people and leaving many trapped.

More than 1,200 firefighters were battling to extinguish the blaze in what has become the deadliest building fire in the city in more than half a century.

The fire has been extinguished in four of the buildings in the complex and is under control in three others, Hong Kong fire officials said, but dangerously high temperatures and collapsed scaffolding in the towers are making it difficult to rescue trapped residents.

The cause of the fire, which started around 2:50 p.m. on Wednesday and quickly spread to multiple high-rise towers, was still unknown. But authorities said they suspected that building materials on the exteriors of the towers in the apartment complex had not met fire-safety standards, potentially leading to the fire’s rapid spread.

The Hong Kong police said Thursday that they had arrested two directors of a construction company and a consultant on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with the fire.

Lai Yee Chung, a senior police superintendent, said at a news conference on Thursday that in one of the buildings, foam boards known to be flammable had been installed outside elevator lobby windows on every floor. Authorities believe there was “gross negligence” on the part of those responsible for construction, she said.

The towers are in a dense complex known as Wang Fuk Court, built in the early 1980s, that includes about 2,000 apartments. When the fire started, the buildings were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding, which is widely used in Hong Kong for building construction and repair.

Here’s What Else To Know:

— Rescue effort: A fire department official told reporters that the response was hindered by falling debris and scaffolding as well as high temperatures inside the buildings, which made it difficult to reach units where residents might be trapped. The ladders of two fire trucks appeared to reach only about halfway up the sides of the 32-story towers, and the tallest flames were far higher than where the water was being sprayed.

— Shelters: The government said it had opened temporary shelters at nearby community centers and a school to accommodate residents. Dozens of people gathered outside the shelters on Thursday to try and find their missing loved ones in photos of those who have been declared dead.

— Survivors’ stories: The people who were able to escape the fire described harrowing scenes as the flames climbed up the buildings. Many said that they had escaped by chance after seeing the blaze, and that no one had warned them to get out.

— Fire risk: The Hong Kong government announced plans last spring to begin phasing out the use of bamboo scaffolding in favor of steel, which it said posed less of a fire risk. In October, the fire department attributed the rapid spread of a fire at an office building in Hong Kong’s central business district to bamboo scaffolding around the building.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Joy Dong, Alexandra Stevenson and Keith Bradsher/Lam Tik Fei
c. 2025 The New York Times Company