Hong Kong leader apologizes for Wang Fuk Court fire that killed 168, housing secretary resigns

Hong Kong leader John Lee apologized Thursday, Oct. 29, for the Wang Fuk Court fire that killed 168 people, and announced that Housing Secretary Winnie Ho had resigned the day before.

Lee and seven other senior officials bowed at the start of a news conference. It came as the government released a report of more than 1,000 pages from a judge-led independent committee.

"As the chief executive, I apologize to the disaster victims and the public, and commit to fulfilling my responsibilities to lead the government with full force in resolving problems," Lee said. "Similar incidents will never be allowed to happen again."

What the committee found

The Nov. 26, 2025 fire swept through seven of the eight towers at the Tai Po housing estate, which was wrapped in scaffolding and netting for renovations. The dead included 110 women and 58 men, ranging from 6 months to 98 years old. Thousands of residents lost their homes.

The committee concluded the fire most likely began with a lit cigarette end on a first-floor flat roof at Wang Cheong House. It said there was substantial evidence that construction workers smoked on site, and investigators found cigarette butts and partly burned cardboard boxes there.

The spread was a different matter. Experts found that foam boards, scaffolding nets that were not fire retardant, and canvases fed the fire. Most victims died of smoke inhalation.

Some staircase windows had been swapped for movable aluminum composite panels or wooden boards for the workers' convenience, which let smoke into escape routes. Opaque foam boards over windows blocked sightlines and slowed evacuation. The fire alarm system had also been shut down, which the committee counted as a factor in the death toll.

Contractors first, then regulators

The committee said the main contractor and the consultant on the project, along with several individuals, deserved "the most severe criticisms." It said the companies used sub-standard materials and unsafe procedures. They also put false information in paperwork to "feign compliance" with regulators, the report said.

It described "widespread, systematic and long-standing" unlawful and dubious practices in the construction sector. That included bid-rigging, and the report said some parties had connections to local mafias.

But the committee did not stop with the private sector. It said the Housing Bureau's Independent Checking Unit, the Buildings Department, the Fire Services Department and the Labour Department all had deficiencies in supervision.

Had those departments possessed a "sense of crisis," the report said, there was "a real possibility" the misconduct and fire hazards could have been corrected before the fire.

Criminal cases and the fallout

Authorities have charged seven individuals and two companies, including with manslaughter. At least 35 people have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, fraud or corruption.

Lee said Ho "should bear political responsibility" even though the Independent Checking Unit's failures did not involve her personal fault or misconduct. She is the first official to resign over the fire. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong is acting housing secretary.

The Independent Checking Unit, which the government treats as the body most at fault, will be scrapped. Wong said a new public housing control unit will replace it, covering all public rental and subsidized sale housing and working project by project.

A separate three-month investigation will determine whether government employees were derelict in their duties and what discipline follows.

Lee also announced:

• Criminal penalties for bid-rigging in building maintenance projects.
• An overhaul of how complaints are handled.
• A cross-departmental data system to share violation records.
• A new organization to support residents during building maintenance projects.

Security Secretary Chris Tang announced a new large-scale fire prevention region within the Fire Services Department to plan for high-risk scenarios. Officials have also floated using AI and drones with infrared cameras to spot smokers on construction sites.

Families say it falls short

Some of the bereaved were not satisfied. Yip Ka-kui, who lost his wife and his home, said the heads of every named department should step down. "Administrative responsibility falls short," he said, and political accountability falls shorter still.

Phyllis Lo, whose mother died, said progress had been made but justice had not yet been served. She called the apology late, though better than nothing.

After the fire, Hong Kong and Chinese officials warned that "external hostile forces" were trying to recreate the 2019 protests, as residents demanded accountability and transparency. Critics say the 2020 national security law, which officials in Hong Kong and Beijing defend as necessary to restore stability, has gutted the city's civil society and opposition.

The record now shows what residents were asking for last year: contractors who cut corners and lied on paperwork, and inspectors who did not catch it. A government that spent weeks warning about hostile forces has now put its own supervisory failures in writing.

No one in the senior ranks beyond Ho has faced consequences so far. The three-month investigation will determine whether that changes, and the manslaughter cases against seven individuals and two companies are still pending.