mourns

At least 128 people died and 200 remain missing after the towers housing 4,600 people were engulfed by flames.

People in Hong Kong are mourning the deaths of at least 128 people who died in the region’s largest blaze in decades in an eight-apartment residential complex.

The flags outside the central government offices were lowered to half-mast on Saturday as Hong Kong leader John Lee, other officials and civil servants, all dressed in black, gathered to pay their respects to those lost at the Wang Fuk Court estate since the fire on Wednesday.

Condolence books have been set up at 18 points around the former British colony for the public to pay their respects, officials said.

At the site of the residential complex, families and mourners gathered to lay flowers.

By Friday, only 39 of the victims had been identified, leaving families with the morbid task of looking at the photographs of the deceased taken by rescue workers.

The number of victims could still dramatically rise as some 200 people remain missing, with authorities declaring the end of the search for survivors on Friday.

But identification work and search for remains continues, as Lee said the government is setting up a fund with 300 million Hong Kong dollars ($39m) in capital to help the residents.

The local community is also pitching in, with hundreds of volunteers mobilising to help the victims, including by distributing food and other essential items. Some of China’s biggest companies have pledged donations as well.

The Wang Fuk Court fire marks Hong Kong’s deadliest since 1948, when 176 people died in a warehouse blaze.

At least 11 people have been arrested in connection with the tragedy, according to local authorities.

They include two directors and an engineering consultant of the firm identified by the government as doing maintenance on the towers for more than a year, who are accused of manslaughter for using unsafe materials.

The towers, located in the northern district of Tai Po, were undergoing renovations, with the highly flammable bamboo scaffolding and green mesh used to cover the building believed to be a major facilitator of the quick spread of the blaze.

Most of the victims were found in two towers in the complex, with seven of the eight towers suffering extensive damage, including from flammable foam boards used by the maintenance company to seal and protect windows.

The deadly incident has prompted comparisons with the blaze at the Grenfell Tower in London that killed 72 people in 2017, with the fire blamed on flammable cladding on the tower’s exterior, as well as on failings by the government and the construction industry.

“Our hearts go out to all those affected by the horrific fire in Hong Kong,” the Grenfell United survivors’ group said in a short statement on social media.

“To the families, friends and communities, we stand with you. You are not alone.”

Nov. 9 (UPI) — On this date in history:

In 1872, a fire which began in the basement of a warehouse in downtown Boston raged for 12 hours, consuming 65 acres and leaving 776 buildings in ruins. The Great Boston Fire killed at least 30 people.

In 1906, Theodore Roosevelt traveled to Panama to observe the progress being made on the construction of the canal. He was the first sitting president of the United States to embark on an official trip outside the country. The canal opened in 1914 under operation by the U.S. War Department.

In 1918, Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicated as World War I drew to a close.

In 1938, mobs of Germans attacked Jewish businesses and homes throughout Germany in what became known as Kristallnacht, or Crystal Night.

In 1953, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Major League Baseball isn’t within the scope of federal antitrust laws.

File Photo by Brian Kersey/UPI

In 1965, a massive power failure left more than 30 million people in the dark in the northeastern United States and eastern Canada.

In 1985, Gary Kasparov, 22, became the youngest world chess champion, ending the 10-year reign of Anatoly Karpov in Moscow.

In 1989, East Germany announced free passage for its citizens through border checkpoints. The announcement rendered the Berlin Wall, the most reviled symbol of the Cold War, virtually irrelevant 28 years after its construction.

In 1995, Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat visited Israel for the first time to offer personal condolences to the wife of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

In 2008, three men were executed by firing squad for 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, mostly tourists.

File Photo by Brian Richards/UPI

In 2011, a burgeoning child sexual-abuse scandal at Penn State University involving former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky claimed its legendary football coach when the school’s board of trustees fired Joe Paterno.

In 2012, CIA Director David Petraeus resigned, citing an extramarital affair.

In 2015, the World Anti-Doping Agency recommended that Russia be banned from international sporting events due to systematic doping by athletes. Of the 389 athletes submitted for competition in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, 111 were prohibited in stringent doping tests required of all Russian athletes.

In 2021, Arlington National Cemetery opened the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier Plaza to the public for the first time in nearly 100 years.

In 2023, the Screen Actors Guilt and American Federation of Television and Radio Artists reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture Television Producers, ending a 118-day strike that brought Hollywood to a halt.

In 2024, Beyoncé earned 11 nominations for the 67th annual Grammy Awards, making her the most nominated artist in Grammy history, with a lifetime total of 99 nods. As of 2025, she has won 35 of the awards.

File Photo by Christine Chew/UPI