Following a deadly residential fire in Hong Kong that claimed at least 55 lives, several major companies have pledged millions toward relief efforts. Alibaba Group and its affiliate Ant Group together donated 30 million Hong Kong dollars, while Alibaba founder Jack Ma contributed an additional $30 million through his charity foundation. Other corporations, including Anta Group and Tencent Holdings, also donated 30 million Hong Kong dollars each, with Xiaomi Corp and ByteDance contributing 10 million Hong Kong dollars each. Additional donations came from Mixue Bingcheng Co (20 million HKD), China Merchants Group (20 million HKD), Shangri-La Group (10 million HKD), PPD Holdings (10 million HKD), Baidu (10 million HKD), Geely (10 million HKD), Lenovo (10 million HKD), Xtep Group (20 million HKD), Du Xiaoman (10 million HKD), Midea Group (10 million HKD), Wens Foodstuff (40 million HKD), Trip.com Group (10 million HKD), NetEase (10 million HKD), BYD (10 million HKD), Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors (5 million HKD), Be Friends Holdings (1 million HKD), Fuguiniao Group (5 million HKD), and China Red Cross (2 million Yuan).

The donations followed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s call for all-out efforts to minimize casualties and losses. Xi extended condolences to the victims, firefighters, and affected families and urged swift action to control the fire. According to official state media, he expressed his sympathy and emphasized the importance of extinguishing the fire and protecting residents.

The fire occurred at the Wang Fuk Court, an eight-tower public housing complex in the Tai Po district of northern Hong Kong, which housed approximately 4,600 residents in 2,000 apartments. Reports indicate the blaze started from bamboo scaffolding around the complex and spread through wooden poles and protective netting to other buildings. This incident is the deadliest fire in Hong Kong since 1948, when a warehouse fire killed 176 people.