Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday charged seven people and two companies with offenses including manslaughter and conspiracy over the city’s deadliest fire in decades last November.

The massive blaze engulfed seven apartment buildings and killed 168 people on Nov. 26, 2025. Former residents and relatives of the dead have been waiting for answers for months after the fire shattered the close-knit community of Wang Fuk Court, which housed thousands of people in the suburban district of Tai Po.

In a statement on Wednesday, authorities said police and the Independent Commission Against Corruption charged the suspects with 25 counts. Money laundering, attempting to pervert the course of public justice and tax evasion were also among the allegations.

The seven people played different roles in the major renovation project of Wang Fuk Court. The two companies charged are the project consultancy firm and the main contractor involved in the project.

The cases were scheduled to be heard in court Wednesday afternoon. In March, police said they arrested 38 people on accusations related to the complex, including manslaughter and fraud.

Nine have been charged, police said. The anti-graft agency said in the same month that they also arrested 23 people on suspicion of offenses such as bribery and conspiracy to defraud.

Victor Dawes, a lawyer representing an independent committee conducting an ongoing inquiry into the fire’s cause, previously said almost all fire safety systems failed on the day of the blaze because of human error.

Hong Kong deadly fire 

The fire at the Wang Fuk Court in northern Hong Kong was recorded as the city’s worst disaster in 75 years, and the world’s most fatal residential building fire since 1980.

The eight-tower complex – home to nearly 5,000 people – was under extensive renovations that have since been found to contain substandard, flammable materials.

The secretary for development, Bernadette Linn, ordered all Hong Kong buildings undergoing major maintenance to remove their scaffolding netting by Saturday. The South China Morning Post reported the order would affect about 200 buildings.

Since the 2019 pro-democracy protests and subsequent government crackdown on all civil and political dissent, authorities in Hong Kong and Beijing have made national security an overriding priority in the city, effectively crushing or silencing all opposition.