Four people have died after a massive fire engulfed several high-rise towers of a residential complex in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district, with thick grey smoke billowing out as emergency services tackled the blaze.
Police said several people remained trapped inside the burning towers, the public broadcaster RTHK reported, while two people were in a critical condition with severe burns.
Firefighters tackle the blaze a Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong. Photograph: Kobe Li/Nexpher/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock
Some fire services staff were injured while trying to put out the flames that ripped through the 31-storey towers. People gathered on a nearby overhead walkway as smoke billowed from the buildings, some of which were clad in bamboo scaffolding.
Scores of fire engines and ambulances lined the road below, witnesses said. The fire department told Reuters it did not yet have a figure for the number of people who may still be inside. Video from the scene showed firefighters aiming water at the flames from high up on ladder trucks.
A view from the distance of the fire at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district. Photograph: Yan Zhao/AFP/Getty Images
The fire department said it had received reports at 2.51pm (0651 GMT) that a fire had broken out in Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po. It was upgraded to a No 4 alarm, the second highest level, at 3.34pm.
Wang Fuk Court is a housing complex of eight blocks, providing about 2,000 residential units.
Hong Kong’s transport department said that owing to the fire, an entire section of the Tai Po Road, one of Hong Kong’s two main highways, had been closed and buses were being diverted.
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.
