13 people killed in fire engulfing Hong Kong high-rise residential buildings, fire services say

The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread quickly on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the housing complex in Tai Po district, in the New Territories. Records show the housing complex consisted of eight blocks with almost 2,000 apartments housing about 4,800 people.

Video from the scene showed multiple buildings close to each other ablaze, with bright flames and smoke shooting out of many of the apartments’ windows as night fell. Authorities said hundreds of firefighters, police officers and paramedics were deployed, and video showed firefighters aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks.

The blaze started mid afternoon and after nightfall authorities upgraded it to a level 5 alarm, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said. The fire was still raging late into the night, and authorities said conditions remained very challenging for firefighters.

“Debris and scaffolding of the affected buildings are falling down,” said Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of Fire Services (Operations). "The temperature inside the buildings concerned (is) very high. It’s difficult for us to enter the building and go upstairs to conduct firefighting and rescue operations.”

It was not immediately known what caused the fire. Officials said the fire started at the external scaffolding of one of the buildings and later spread to inside the building and also to nearby blocks, likely aided by windy conditions. The department said it received “numerous” calls requesting assistance and some residents remained trapped as of Wednesday night local time.

Firefighters deployed 128 fire trucks and 57 ambulances to the scene.

The dead included one firefighter and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung told reporters.

Lo Hiu-fung, a Taipo District Council member, told local TV station TVB earlier Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.

District officials in Tai Po have opened temporary shelters for people left homeless by the fire.

“I’ve given up thinking about my property," a resident who only provided his surname, Wu, told TVB. "Watching it burn like that was really frustrating.”

Tai Po is a suburban area in the New Territories, in the northern part of Hong Kong and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Bamboo scaffolding is a common sight in Hong Kong at building construction and renovation projects, though the government said earlier this year that it would start phasing it out for public projects because of safety concerns.

Moritsugu reported from Beijing.