In the aftermath of a devastating fire that swept through a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong, firefighters are meticulously combing through each unit in a desperate search for more victims. The blaze, which tragically claimed at least 128 lives, is one of the deadliest in the city’s history.

According to Derek Armstrong Chan, Deputy Director of Hong Kong Fire Services, emergency crews are focusing their efforts on apartments from which they received over two dozen distress calls during the fire but could not access at the time.

As recovery operations continue, the death toll has climbed to 128, with more bodies being discovered in the severely damaged towers. Secretary for Security, Chris Tang, indicated at the scene that the search for victims is ongoing, and the number of casualties may increase further.

The fire erupted on Wednesday afternoon within one of the eight towers of the Wang Fuk Court complex. It rapidly spread to adjacent buildings, fueled by bamboo scaffolding and renovation netting, until seven of the towers were engulfed in flames.

It took the concerted efforts of over 1,000 firefighters nearly 24 hours to finally bring the fire under control. Even two days later, sporadic flare-ups persist, with smoke still rising from the charred remains of the buildings.

The final search of the buildings was expected to be completed later on Friday at which point officials have said they will officially end the rescue phase of their operation at the complex in Tai Po district, a northern suburb near Hong Kong’s border with mainland China.

It was unclear how many people could possibly be inside the buildings, which had almost 2000 apartments and some 4800 residents.

“We will endeavor to force entry into all the units of the seven blocks concerned so as to ensure that there is no other possible casualties,” Chan said.

He said an updated figure on the number of missing people cannot be calculated until the search and rescue operation is complete.

The apartments from which a total of 25 unanswered rescue calls were received, which are being prioritised, were primarily on higher floors, where the fire was last to be extinguished, he said.

More than 70 people were injured in the blaze, including 11 firefighters, and about 900 people were housed in temporary shelters.

Most of the casualties were in the first two buildings to catch fire, Chan said.

The apartment complex housed many older people. It was built in the 1980s and had been undergoing a major renovation. Hong Kong’s anti-corruption agency said on Thursday it was investigating possible corruption relating to the renovation project.

Three men, the directors and an engineering consultant of a construction company, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter, and police said company leaders were suspected of gross negligence.

Police have not identified the company where the suspects worked, but The Associated Press confirmed Prestige Construction and Engineering Company was in charge of renovations in the tower complex. Police have seized boxes of documents from the company, where phones rang unanswered on Thursday.

Authorities suspected some materials on the exterior walls of the high-rise buildings did not meet fire resistance standards, allowing the unusually fast spread of the fire.

Police also said they found plastic foam panels — which are highly flammable — attached to the windows on each floor near the elevator lobby of the one unaffected tower. The panels were believed to have been installed by the construction company but the purpose was not clear.

Authorities planned immediate inspections of housing estates undergoing major renovations to ensure scaffolding and construction materials meet safety standards.

The fire was the deadliest in Hong Kong in decades. A 1996 fire in a commercial building in Kowloon killed 41 people. A warehouse fire in 1948 killed 176 people, according to the South China Morning Post.