After Beijing reshaped the political order in Hong Kong in its image, the fire has become a test of how well that new system can govern in a crisis.

A blaze that ripped through a massive apartment block in Hong Kong has claimed at least 94 lives, surpassing the toll of a similar incident at London's Grenfell Tower in 2017.

BEIJING, Nov 29 (Reuters) - China announced a sweeping inspection of fire-safety standards in high-rise buildings nationwide on Saturday after a deadly fire in Hong Kong left at least 128 people dead, moving to avert any comparable disaster on the mainland.

Police investigators have been searching the charred shells of the tower blocks to gather evidence and determine the cause of the fire. Bodies of some of the victims are believed to remain inside the buildings. The fire broke out in a large housing complex in Tai Po, a residential district in the northern part of Hong Kong.

It was unclear how many people could possibly be inside the buildings, which had almost 2,000 apartments and some 4,800 residents.

The injured Philippines worker Rhodora Alcaraz, 28, cradled her employers' 3-month-old baby in a wet blanket while trapped in a smoke-filled room for several hours before being rescued by firefighters, her sister Raychelle Loreto told Reuters.

It is unclear how many people were in Wang Fuk Court when the fire broke out, but the more recent census figures suggest it is home to around 4,600 residents. Hundreds of them have been evacuated to temporary shelters, and some are being allocated emergency housing units.