A deadly fire that spread quickly across multiple high-rise apartment buildings in Hong Kong on Wednesday killed at least 13 people, as per the city’s fire servicemen.
While nine were declared dead on the scene, four others who had been sent to the hospital were later confirmed dead, authorities told reporters.
More than 700 people staying in the housing complex were evacuated to temporary shelters, even as raging flames could be seen engulfing bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the resident complex in Tai Po district, in the New Territories.
The fire spread so viciously and quickly, that bright flames and smoke was shooting out from at least five buildings standing close to each other, while firefighters struggled to contain the inferno as night fell.
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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.
While the cause of the blaze is not yet known, it started mid-afternoon, with authorities upgrading it to a level 5 alarm after nightfall, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said.
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.
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