In Hong Kong, a city where millions of residents sleep, eat and work high above the ground in towers pressed together like books on a shelf, there has long been the threat that a massive fire could trap people inside their high-rises.

在香港，楼群密密匝匝如同书架上的书本，这座城市的数百万居民就在高楼里睡觉、吃饭、工作，一场滔天大火让住在高楼里的人无处可逃的威胁一直存在。

By Thursday, the scale of that nightmare emerged, as an inferno that had begun a day earlier with one 32-story building and quickly engulfed six other towers at an aging apartment complex became the deadliest fire in Hong Kong’s modern history. On Friday morning, the authorities said that at least 83 people had died in the blaze and dozens of others were still unaccounted for.

至周四，这场噩梦的惨烈程度逐渐显现。此前一天，始于一栋32层建筑的烈火迅速吞噬老旧屋苑的另外六栋高楼，酿成香港现代史上最致命的火灾惨剧。周五早晨，官方确认至少94人罹难，另有数十人下落不明。

Hundreds of firefighters worked to put out flames that continued to burn in three buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po district 24 hours after they were first reported on Wednesday afternoon. They searched for survivors who had been trapped inside the buildings, pulling both people and corpses out.

周三下午爆发的大埔宏福苑火灾持续逾24小时后，仍有三栋建筑存在火情，数百名消防员仍在努力扑救。他们在楼内搜救受困者，不断抬出幸存者与遇难者遗体。

More than 70 others were in the hospital, some in critical condition. Outside a nearby community center, dozens of people whose relatives were missing waited in line within a police cordon to see if their loved ones were among those whose bodies had been found.

还有70多人正在医院救治，其中一些人情况危急。在附近一个社区中心外，数十名失踪者家属在警戒线内排队，焦急等待确认已寻获的遗体中有无至亲。

Investigators began piecing together how the flames had moved so swiftly, homing in on the green construction netting that had shrouded the buildings slated for renovation, as well as polystyrene foam that had apparently been installed on windows. The police arrested two directors and a consultant linked to a construction company that had installed the construction materials, saying they were suspected of manslaughter and gross negligence.

调查人员开始努力还原火势急速蔓延的轨迹，重点关注包覆待翻新建筑的绿色施工防护网，以及发现安装在窗框上的发泡胶。警方已逮捕涉事建筑工程公司的两名董事及一名顾问，称他们涉嫌误杀和严重疏忽。

宏福苑附近临时安置点的居民。

Residents, many of them older, described narrowly escaping and complained that they had been given no warning, not even by a fire alarm. Public anger rose over whether Hong Kong’s building-safety system has kept pace with the vulnerabilities of one of the world’s fastest-aging populations.

该屋苑的住户（其中许多是老年人）描述了死里逃生的经历，并抱怨事发时完全没有收到任何警示，连警报器都没有响。公众的愤怒情绪不断上升，他们想知道作为全球老龄化速度最快的城市之一，香港的建筑安全体系是否跟得上。

Some observers and local politicians began to ask whether the disaster was the result of corruption and a lack of accountability, as residents raised questions about perceived collusion between housing committees that oversee maintenance and renovations of such estates and contractors.

一些观察人士和当地政界人士开始质疑，这场灾难是否是腐败和缺乏问责的结果。居民们对负责监督此类楼宇维护和修缮的房屋管理委员会与承包商之间相互勾结的现象提出了质疑。

The latest death toll surpassed that of a tenement fire in Kowloon that killed 59 people in 1957, as well as the blaze that broke out at Grenfell Tower, an apartment block in central London in 2017, in which 72 people were killed.

最新的死亡数字已超过1957年九龙一场造成59人死亡的出租楼大火，也超过了2017年英国伦敦格伦费尔公寓造成72人死亡的火灾。

“This is absolutely scandalous, this is not what Hong Kong is known for,” said Emily Lau, a longtime pro-democracy politician and former lawmaker who now hosts an interview show on YouTube. She said the scale of the tragedy pointed to insufficient government supervision: “This has opened up a can of worms about misconduct.”

“这绝对是骇人听闻的，这不是香港该有的样子，”长期从事民主运动的政治人物、前立法会议员刘慧卿说，她目前在YouTube上主持一档访谈节目。她说，这场悲剧的规模突显了政府的监管不足：“挤破了行为不当的脓疮。”

In the face of mounting questions and pressure from China’s leader, Xi Jinping, for “all-out efforts” to respond to the disaster, the Hong Kong government moved to show it was taking swift action.

面对不断增长的质疑以及来自中国领导人习近平要求“全力以赴”应对灾难的压力，香港政府随即采取行动，试图展示其正在迅速应对。

大埔火灾次日，数百消防员仍在现场全力扑救。摄于周四。

John Lee, the Beijing-backed chief executive of Hong Kong, visited the site and later told reporters that the fires were under control. He announced a 300 million Hong Kong dollar or $38 million, fund for victims. His government also kicked off a citywide inspection of housing estates currently under renovation. The city’s anticorruption bureau also announced it was setting up a task force to investigate potential corruption related to the construction work on the complex.

北京支持的香港特首李家超视察了火灾现场，随后向记者表示火势已得到控制。他宣布设立一笔3亿港元的灾民援助基金，特区政府同时启动对全港正在进行翻新的屋邨的排查。香港廉政公署也宣布成立专项工作组，调查该楼群翻新工程中可能存在的贪腐问题。

The fire was the latest crisis for Mr. Lee’s government, which already faces demands from Beijing to fix Hong Kong’s housing market, one of the least affordable in the world, and shore up the economy.

这场火灾是李家超政府面临的又一场危机。此前，北京已要求其解决香港住房市场问题——香港楼市是全球房价可负担性最低的市场之一——同时还需着力提振经济。

And as public distrust swells, with people posting videos and photos online expressing concern about what they feared was flammable construction materials on other buildings, the political fallout could be significant.

随着公众疑虑日益加剧，民众纷纷在网上发布视频和照片，担忧其他建筑上使用的建筑材料存在易燃风险，此次火灾可能引发重大政治影响。

“A bigger question is this: Should a senior official take overall responsibility for this horrendous fire?” said Wang Xiangwei, an associate professor of journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“更大的问题在于：面对这场惨烈的火灾，是否应有高级官员承担全面责任？”香港浸会大学新闻系副教授王向伟表示。

The authorities said that a preliminary investigation revealed that protective nets, tarpaulin and other materials used for the renovation may not have met fire-safety standards. They identified the registered contractor for the building complex as Prestige Construction and Engineering Company.

当局初步调查显示，翻新工程中使用的防护网、防水帆布及其他材料可能不符合消防安全标准，并确认翻新工程的注册承建商为宏业建筑工程有限公司。

志愿者正在整理捐给灾后无家可归者的物资。

The mesh netting was probably a factor in how quickly the fire spread, said Tony Za, a former chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers Building Division. Typically made of fibers and plastic, such netting is used to keep construction materials and other objects from falling off bamboo scaffolding — which companies in Hong Kong commonly use when repairing a building’s exterior — and hitting the ground below.

香港工程师学会建筑分部前主席谢伟正指出，防护网或许是火势快速蔓延的原因之一。这类防护网通常由纤维和塑料制成，用于防止建筑材料及其他物品从竹棚架上坠落伤人——香港企业翻新建筑外墙时普遍使用这种棚架。

Bamboo scaffolding may have also contributed to the blaze, experts said. The government announced earlier this year that it would phase out the use of the material and replace it with steel scaffolding, for greater safety. Last month, another bamboo scaffolding caught fire in Hong Kong’s central business district. That incident along with the devastating fire this week would likely accelerate the construction industry’s switch to metal scaffolding, Mr. Za said.

专家表示，竹棚架也可能助长了火势。香港政府今年早些时候已宣布，将逐步淘汰竹棚架，改用安全性更高的钢棚架。上月，香港中环商务区曾发生另一起竹棚架起火事件。谢伟正称，此次重大火灾叠加此前的事故，大概率会加速建筑行业向金属棚架的转型。

The government’s investigation also pointed to foam boards that had been found installed on windows.

政府调查还指出，发现窗户上安装了泡沫板。

One Wang Fuk Court resident, Lau Yu Hung, a 78-year-old resident, said that many of the windows in his building were covered with a thin layer of polystyrene foam, and that he had heard that it was meant to protect the glass from the repairs being done to the facade.

宏福苑78岁的居民刘余洪（音）表示，他所住楼栋的许多窗户都被一层薄薄的泡沫板覆盖，他听闻此举是为了在立面翻新期间保护玻璃。

The material blocked much of the light and prevented residents from seeing outside, he said. It was only because of a small gap in the foam covering his bathroom window that he had been able to see that a neighboring building was on fire and escape in time, he said.

他说，这种材料遮挡了大部分光线，导致居民无法看清窗外情况。万幸的是，他家浴室窗户的泡沫板留有一道小缝隙，正是通过这道缝隙，他才发现邻近楼栋起火，并及时逃生。

初步调查显示，宏福苑翻修使用的防护网、防水布及其他材料可能未达到消防安全标准。

The blaze spread quickly in this complex of about 2,000 units, which housed many retirees. Some residents had lived there for decades after having purchased their apartments through a government-subsidized homeownership program in the 1980s. Mr. Lau said he had lived there for 20 years.

这座屋邨共有约2000个单位，居住着大量退休人士。部分居民在上世纪80年代通过政府资助的居者有其屋计划购入公寓，在此居住已数十年。刘余洪本人也已在此居住了20年。

Near the complex, dozens of family members still searching for their loved ones gathered outside to file slowly into a community center where they viewed photos of victims.

屋邨附近，数十名仍在寻找亲人的家属聚集在一处社区中心外，依次进入场内辨认遇难者照片。

S.F. Chiang, 68, had gone there to see if her missing 62-year-old brother and 24-year-old niece were among the victims. But she did not find them among the photos that the police provided. “My heart hurts to think about them,” she said.

S·F·蒋（音）来到这里，希望能在遇难者名单中找到她失踪的62岁弟弟和24岁侄女，但她并未在警方提供的照片中看到二人的身影。“一想到他们，我就好心痛，”她说。