Hong Kong tower fire toll rises to 44, police arrest three

HONG KONG, Nov 27 (Reuters) – The death toll from Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in three decades rose to 44 on Thursday as firefighters battled to extinguish a huge blaze that ripped through high-rise residential towers sheathed in flammable bamboo scaffolding, authorities said. Working through the night, firefighters were struggling to reach upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, which has 2,000 apartments in eight blocks, due to the intense heat and thick smoke that still engulfed the 32-storey towers, where many people were believed trapped inside. Sign up here. The cause of the blaze in the northern…