On the 26th (local time), foreign media reported that the death toll from an apartment complex fire in Hong Kong's suburbs rose to 55. The disaster left as many as 279 people missing, but with almost a full day having passed since the fire broke out and no additional rescues reported, there are concerns it could become the worst loss of life on record.
On the 27th, according to a compilation of reports from AFP, Reuters, and other foreign media, a fire at Wang Fuk Court, a 32-story residential apartment complex in the Tai Po district in northern Hong Kong, left a total of 55 people dead as of the afternoon. The dead included one firefighter.
In addition, more than 60 people were injured and taken to hospitals. Sixteen of the injured were in critical condition, and 25 were seriously hurt. The number of missing stood at 279, and although the fire department has been searching around the clock, with no additional rescues reported by 1 p.m. that day, there are concerns it may remain the worst loss of life in Hong Kong's history.
Since the 1997 handover from Britain, Hong Kong saw a fire at a Mong Kok nightclub in 2008 that killed four and injured 55. At the time, a level 5 (the highest level) alert, the same as this incident, was issued. During British rule, an explosion in 1948 on the first floor of a five-story dangerous goods storage warehouse killed 176. In Nov. 1996, a building fire in Kowloon killed 41 and injured 81.