HONG KONG, December 20. /TASS/. The death toll from the major November 26 fire in Hong Kong has risen to 161 after DNA testing of remains, Police Commissioner Joe Chow announced.

"Forensic tests detected the DNA of another individual in the [burned] remains, now identified as belonging to a married couple. This means the death toll has increased to 161," Chow stated, as quoted by the South China Morning Post. "DNA testing is ongoing. We do not rule out the possibility of discovering other deceased, and this number may increase," he added.

Earlier, police had contacted about 100 families of residents from the burned complex to obtain DNA samples for identification.

The fire broke out on Wednesday at the Wang Fuk Court complex, comprising eight high-rise buildings, in the Tai Po neighborhood of Hong Kong’s New Territories, with one building being practically intact and seven others being engulfed by flames. The blaze spread quickly across bamboo scaffolding, installed around these buildings for cosmetic refurbishments. The complex contains almost 2,000 apartments, accommodating around 4,000 residents.

This blaze is the deadliest residential building fire in the city’s history. The previous most lethal fire broke out at the Garley Building in 1996, killing 41 people and injuring 81. At the same time, Hong Kong has seen even more tragic fires. The deadliest one in the city’s history dates back to February 27, 1918, and occurred at the Happy Valley Racecourse. More than 600 people died after a temporary spectator stand collapsed and ignited a fire. Another blaze, which broke out on Des Voeux Road West in 1948, when a cargo of celluloid film caught fire in a warehouse and spread to residential buildings, causing 176 deaths and leaving 69 injured.