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According to officials, the worst fire in 63 years in Hong Kong tore through a number of high-rise buildings on Wednesday afternoon, killing at least 44 people.

In Tai Po, firefighters are still battling the blaze and reaching out to those who are trapped inside.

Authorities said they had contained the fire in four buildings by early on Thursday morning, but firefighters were still putting out work on three more than 16 hours after the fire started.

What should I know:

What transpired in Hong Kong?

On Wednesday, around 2:51 p.m. (06:51 GMT) local time, an apartment building in Hong Kong’s Tai Po neighborhood caught fire.

The bamboo scaffolding outside one of the buildings caught fire. This kind of scaffolding, which is made of bamboo poles that workers use to perform repairs, burns quickly. When the scaffolding caught fire, the flames quickly spread to nearby towers, the structure, into the building, and then up to the scaffolding.

Due to ongoing renovation work, which also caught fire, causing it to spread more quickly, the blocks were also covered in green construction netting all the way to the rooftops.

The fire quickly grew, according to local media: It had reached a level four alarm by 3: 34 p.m. (07: 34 GMT), and by 6: 22 p.m. (10: 22 GMT), the highest level of alarm in Hong Kong.

The fire in Hong Kong’s Sham Shui Po district was the city’s deadliest fire since at least August 1962, when 44 people died in a fire there. In November 1996, a fire at the Garley Building on Nathan Road in Kowloon claimed the lives of 41 people and inflicted 81 injuries.

Due to the extreme risk of fire caused by dry weather, Hong Kong has been in a higher fire alert since Monday.

What was the beginning of the fire?

In Hong Kong’s Tai Po district, the fire started at Wang Fuk Court, a housing complex.

Eight high-rise buildings totaling 1, 984 apartments are housed in the 1983 complex. Seven of the buildings were reportedly impacted by the fire, according to local media reports. Four of those have since been controlled, according to the report.

Around 300,000 people live in Tai Po, a suburb of Hong Kong close to the border with mainland China. It is a component of the government’s program for subventioning home ownership.

According to property records, Wang Fuk Court has been the subject of significant renovations, involving a $42.43 million project.

What caused the fire to spread so quickly, and how?

Because it started on the bamboo scaffolding around the building and spread to the green netting that covered the structures, the fire quickly spread.

Once the bamboo and green netting caught fire, the flames spread to many floors and up the tower’s exterior.

Within a few seconds, nearby buildings started to burn as a result of the explosion. The renovation work’s windows and open areas were likely to cause the flames to spread more quickly.

Officials claim that the fire erupted from control because the exact cause is still being investigated, but that the flammable scaffolding, building materials, and tall, tightly packed towers all contributed to it.

Additionally, according to police, they discovered styrofoam and other protective materials on the windows and the outside of the buildings, as well as sand and other protective materials on the exteriors.

According to Eileen Chung, senior superintendent at the Hong Kong Police Force, “we have reason to believe that those in charge of the company were grossly negligent, which led to this accident and the fire spreading uncontrollably, resulting in significant casualties.”

Two directors of a construction company, as well as an engineering consultant, are being detained by police. They are both between the ages of 52 and 68.

Around 2 a.m. on Thursday (18:00 GMT, Wednesday), police said they had detained them in the Tai Po, Ngau Tau Kok, and San Po Kong districts.

How many people have passed away or are missing?

Authorities have confirmed the deaths of 44 people, including a firefighter, in the past. There are still about 279 missing people. The Hong Kong Hospital Authority informed CNN that at least 66 people had been admitted to hospitals as of 8am (GMT). 17 of those listed as critical were 24 as serious, and 24 were not.

In a hospital, four people died. In community centers, about 900 people have sought shelter.

What has recently happened on the ground?

In Hong Kong, it is now 9:42 AM (12:00 GMT), and according to local reports, firefighters are still battling the blaze.

The deputy director of fire services, Derek Armstrong Chan, claimed that extreme heat had prevented firefighters from entering some upper-floor apartments earlier, according to a report from the South China Morning Post. He added that crews “keep trying” to reach them.

Additionally, he added that “our frontline personnel are in increased danger as the debris and scaffolding of the affected building fall down.”

He claimed that the rescue and firefighting operation was “more difficult” because it was dark overnight.

It will also present additional danger and difficulties to our operation in the hours of darkness, and the fire scene’s temperature is still very high at this time. We are therefore having trouble getting to the upper floors of two buildings.

More than 1,200 fire and ambulance personnel were dispatched to the site, according to officials from the Hong Kong Fire Services Department. Some residents of the area have resumed their jobs and studies.

According to a new report, Russian “shadow vessels” are using false flags to deceive Russian authorities over its conflict in Ukraine.

According to a report released on Thursday by the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), 113 Russian vessels flown a false flag in total over the first nine months of this year, transporting roughly 11 million tonnes of oil worth $4. 7 billion ($5.4 billion).

According to report co-author Luke Wickenden, “Russian shadow tankers sailing under false flags are now growing alarmingly frequently.”

“False-flagged vessels alone traveled through the Danish Straits to transport 1.4 billion euros ($1.6 billion) of Russian crude oil and oil products” in September.

To avoid being scrutinized, Russia’s secretive shadow fleet transports prohibited goods, particularly oil, under non-Russian flags.

Every ship operating in international waters is required to fly a flag that grants it legal authority to conduct its operations there.

Countries are able to fly their flag and grant their nationality under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Some nations offer open registries that permit the use of their flag by foreign-owned or controlled vessels, a practice that some shippers favor due to lower registration costs and regulatory burdens.

As of the end of September, CREA reported that 96 sanctioned vessels had flown a false flag at least once this year.

According to the think tank, 85 vessels have at least two flag changes registered within the United States Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) or the United Kingdom, in total.

At least 10 Russian ships were registered in their fleet in September 2025, according to CREA, for a total of 162 shadow vessels, compared to the six flag registries that had not flagged a Russian ship prior to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“We also see that shadow vessel operators are exploiting the capacity limitations of economically weak nations to use their flags and existing regulations to obtain passage rights to deliver blood oil,” said co-author Vaibhav Raghunandan, urging the EU and the UK to change their flagging policies and practices.

According to CREA, its report was based on information from the maritime safety platform Equasis, including vessel ownership and flag registry records.

It claimed to have cross-referenced the data with the global shipping industry database GSIS (Global Integrated Shipping System).

More evasive methods

The findings from the Center for a New American Security in Washington, according to Rachel Ziemba, an adjunct senior fellow at the organization.

On the back of increased pressure from the EU and China’s plans to block so-called “zombie vessels,” which use the registration numbers of retired vessels, Ziemba claimed Moscow had used “more evasive techniques.”

“There is an open question about enforcement,” Ziemba said, despite the US and the EU’s continued implementation of new sanctions on Russian oil.

Countries would need to target vessels, intermediaries, and buyers in order to significantly reduce Russia’s oil sales, she said, as sanctions enforcement becomes more difficult as a result of the growing illicit trade.

According to Ziemba, “but that comes with costs,” suggesting that China, a major buyer of Russian oil, might launch retaliations against nations that enacted tougher sanctions.

Most Thais don’t eat pork, so Bangkok, Thailand, is smothered in it, seasoned with sugar and cloves, deep fried, or served with zingy chilli mince.

However, a $3 billion market that is almost entirely fueled by domestic pig farmers may soon face fierce competition from the US’s third-largest producer, the United States, which produces hogs for the first time.

Some details have surfaced in the Thai government’s preliminary trade agreement with the US, despite the still-untold fine print.

To reduce its $45.5 billion trade deficit with Thailand, which President Donald Trump claims unfairly disadvantages US producers, Washington has a 10-item wish list of goods that it wants to import duty-free.

Pork, corn, soya beans, some fruits, and some vegetables are included in the list.

The White House revealed some of the many restrictions to its trade agreement, which set the tariff rate for Thailand’s exports to the US at 19%, shortly after Trump met Thailand’s caretaker prime minister, Anutin Charnvirakul, on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Malaysia last month.

The White House cites Thailand’s commitment to “expediting access” for US meat and poultry products as well as its commitment to “address and prevent barriers to US food and agricultural products in the Thai market.”

The industry may not survive a flood of less expensive, subventioned US pork, which is fed up with ractopamine, a livestock additive that is prohibited in many nations, including Thailand, according to Thai pig farmers.

Nothing less than the kingdom’s food security is in danger, according to Worawut Siripun, Thailand’s deputy secretary-general, if US pork is allowed into the country without taxes.

Producers will stop raising pigs and will not be able to survive. Worawut, who owns about 10,000 pigs, told Al Jazeera, “The risks are not only for farms that are facing falling pig prices.”

“Affected by these are also those who grow feed crops, as well as veterinary drug sellers, producers of animal feed, and traders of animal feed. Everyone has an impact during the production cycle.

Trump had demanded that Thailand sign a protracted ceasefire agreement before engaging in trade talks with the country.

Thailand has suspended truce talks in the weeks following Anutin’s meeting because of alleged Cambodian violations of the terms of the deal.

Farmers and livestock producers are anticipating increased competition, despite conflicting information about whether tensions with Cambodia have stifled Thailand’s trade negotiations with its biggest export market.

Thailand’s pork industry has overcome difficulties, ranging from swine flu outbreaks to illegal imports from Vietnam and China.

However, it is expensive, primarily as a result of the government’s price controls on corn and soya used to feed pigs and other livestock. The measures are intended to protect the nation’s crop farmers, a crucial voting bloc.

The country’s pig farmers have low margins, just like the majority of Thailand’s agricultural producers.

In Thailand, according to Worawut, “feed is more expensive than US, where it is less expensive,” both imported and locally produced feed materials.

Farmers who raise corn and other feed products are also getting ready for difficult times.

Thailand announced earlier this month that it would remove a 20 percent tariff and reduce its annual corn import cap, which would have previously been set at about 50 000 tonnes.

In the upcoming weeks, prime minister Anutin is expected to dissolve parliament and declare new elections.

He has vowed to run for office despite criticism that he has already lied to Washington before a comprehensive trade agreement has been agreed upon.

Trump administration officials have already made announcements regarding a deal to avoid paying taxes on US digital services companies, the sale of billions of dollars worth of US-made aircraft, and other things.

Due to the difficult economic conditions, Anutin’s bargaining position has weakened.

The National Economic and Social Development Council’s economic growth forecast for 2026 was cut to 1.2 percent on Monday, down from the region’s expected 2 percent expansion this year. This is by far the weakest performance among Southeast Asia’s leading economies, despite this year’s expected growth rate of 2%.

The main political opposition party has demanded that the government pause the negotiations and consult with local stakeholders as a third round of trade talks with the US is drew to a halt following the suspension of the Thailand-Cambodia peace deal.

Weerayut Karnchuchat, the People’s Party’s deputy leader in Thailand’s largest parliament, said, “This is a crucial moment.”

By the end of 2025, the minister of commerce has stated that negotiations will be over. That leaves roughly two months. Eight weeks of stakeholder hearings should be held, especially for those who are directly affected, such as corn farmers.

Thailand should take stock and assess whether regional rivals with full US trade agreements, such as Cambodia, Vietnam, and Malaysia, are satisfied with the outcomes and whether Thailand is offering too much, he continued.

The return of Trump and his trade war has had a difficult year for many midsized businesses, with demand falling across numerous US-exposed supply chains.

From lightbulbs to electrical wires, orders for everything from US-exporting factories are rerouting in Thailand.

Durian farmer and middleman Tipok Lertwattanaweerakul reported seeing a reduction in his profit margins.