<p>By Friday, <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/asia-pacific/2025/11/28/firefighting-ends-at-site-of-huge-hong-kong-blaze-as-death-toll-soars-to-128/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the death toll</a> in the Hong Kong apartment complex inferno had reached 128 with many more people unaccounted for.</p><br><p>A blaze that began in one 32-storey apartment block on Wednesday quickly spread to seven of the eight towers in the densely populated complex. So how did one of the city’s deadliest ever blazes spread so quickly.</p><br><p>The Kwong Fuk Estate, a public housing development, was undergoing refurbishment and the buildings were covered in bamboo scaffolding and netting. New cladding had been installed and now that the rescue operation is over, attention is turning on investigating why and how the fire took hold.</p><br><p>As the death toll grows and questions around building standards mount, Irish Times Beijing correspondent Denis Staunton, who reported from London in 2017 sees clear parallels with the <a href="https://www.irishtimes.com/world/asia-pacific/2025/11/28/hong-kong-fire-stories-horribly-familiar-to-those-told-by-grenfell-survivors/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grenfell Tower disaster</a>.</p><br><p>Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon.&nbsp;</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75em;'> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>