Three construction employees arrested as firefighters battle to reach trapped people, with many still missing

• How the fire unfolded – visual guide

Hong Kong police have alleged unsafe scaffolding and foam materials used during maintenance work may have been behind the rapid spread of a devastating fire at a group of residential tower blocks that has killed at least 94 people and left scores missing.

Firefighters were still battling to reach people who could be trapped on the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex on Thursday due to the intense heat and thick smoke generated by the fire. Late in the day, a survivor was rescued from a stairway on the 16th floor of one of the towers, the South China Morning Post reported.

As apartment complex still blazes more than 24 hours after fire began, police suspect cause is owing to ‘grossly negligent’ action

• How the Hong Kong fire unfolded – visual guide

More than 24 hours after the first tower caught fire, the Hong Kong residential complex was still burning. Fire crews blasted water from cherrypickers at the mid-level floors, but above that, the fires were roaring out of reach.

Wang Fuk Court, in the northern Hong Kong district of Tai Po, was home to about 4,800 people. The eight-tower complex had been under renovation for years, clad in bamboo scaffolding and mesh.