Hong Kong has suffered its deadliest fire in decades.

THE BUILDING BECAME AN INFERNO

Firefighters had arrived on the scene, but the fire had already spread to other tower blocks, which were all under renovation and covered in bamboo scaffolding, a traditional construction material. Burnt poles were collapsing off the exteriors as flames raced up the 32-storey high-rises.

Wan, who CNN is identifying by his surname, grabbed his two dogs and his wallet, and fled down an emergency stairwell that smelled of gas. Just minutes after his evacuation, the fire was declared a Level 4 – the second-highest on a five-tier alarm ranking.

Throughout the next few hours, horrified onlookers watched as the complex – home to more than 4,000 people, many of them elderly – rapidly became engulfed in flames. People returning home from work and school stood with their briefcases and backpacks, staring at the flickering orange as daylight faded.

By nightfall, the scale of the devastation was becoming clear. Around 6 p.m. the fire was declared a maximum level 5 alarm. Community chat groups lit up as families desperately checked the whereabouts of loved ones. News channels broadcast images that sent shock waves through Hong Kong, a wealthy city with a strong track record on building safety.

Three arrests have been made so far, with criminal and anticorruption probes launched as the government faces mounting public pressure to answer questions.

At least 128 people are known to have died in the blaze, the deadliest in decades in the city of some 7.5 million. Many others still remain unaccounted for and the toll is expected to rise as the grim task of searching through charred apartments continues.

Separately, the city’s leader announced on Thursday that all housing estates undergoing significant renovations AND will be inspected for safety.