The death toll in a devastating fire that engulfed seven residential buildings in Tai Po rose to 44 on Thursday morning, as police arrested three men linked to a contractor carrying out renovation work at the estate on suspicion of manslaughter.

Of 58 people injured in the blaze, 15 are reported to be in a critical condition, while 23 are serious.

While Chief Executive John Lee had earlier said 279 people were feared missing, Deputy Fire Services Director Derek Chan told reporters that contact had been made with 72 people since then, though he cautioned that authorities had received numerous calls for assistance and some may be repeats.

Firefighters, he said, have been finding survivors at various locations.

Chan added that firefighters had put fires at four blocks of Wang Fuk Court under control by Thursday morning, but were still battling to contain blazes at three other buildings.

“Up to this moment, the temperature inside the fire scene is still very high, so we have difficulties in proceeding to upper floors of two of the buildings,” he said.

“We expect our operation to last at least to the evening,” Chan added.

Senior police superintendent Eileen Chung told the same briefing that three men, aged 52 to 68, have been arrested for alleged manslaughter amid suspicions that construction materials put up around the building did not meet fire safety standards.

She in particular pointed to Styrofoam boards covering some windows at the estate as being potential fire hazards.

“We found Styrofoam [boards] installed outside some windows on each floor near the lift lobby.” Chung said.

“Every knows this material is inflammable… and could potentially accelerate the spread of fire, and it’s suspected it may be one of the causes [of] the fire, and [why it] spread so quickly.”

She said police had reason to believe the contractor had been “grossly negligent”, and officers had arrested two company directors and a consultant in operations spanning Tai Po, Ngau Tau Kok and San Po Kong.

Chung said the police will work with the Fire Services Department and other departments to quickly conduct investigations in the wake of the fire to find out how it started.