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The deadly Hong Kong high-rise fire was an “accident waiting to happen”, due to highly flammable materials used on the building’s exterior, one expert says.

The disaster’s death toll has risen to 44 with at least 29 hospitalised and hundreds still missing. Three men have been arrested.

The precise cause of the fire has not been identified, but officials said flames spread quickly on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the outside of the housing complex.

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Professor of mechanical engineering at the University of NSW Guan Yeoh says the use of the materials dates back centuries in mainland China.

While metal scaffolding has surpassed it in the construction of many new buildings, bamboo remains widely used.

“Today, many building companies, because of the cost involved in retraining workers, are not willing to change to metal scaffolding,” he said.

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While building regulations in Hong Kong have been updated over recent years, including the incorporation of many Australian standards, bamboo material “slipped through the cracks”, said Yeoh.

He compared the deadly inferno with the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire disaster in London when flames tore up the exterior of a high-rise housing complex made from inflammable cladding, killing 72 people.

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Both disasters were an “accident waiting to happen”, according to Yeoh.

“You have a tall erected wall of flammable material … where flames spread from the ground upwards.”

Yeoh said he hopes the impact of the disaster will lead to tougher building regulations in Hong Kong.

“Unfortunately you need a tragic accident to instill a change … the risk from these materials is alarming.”