Hong Kong: Thirteen people were killed in a fire that spread across multiple high-rise apartment buildings in a Hong Kong housing complex, the city’s fire services said Wednesday.
Nine people were declared dead on the scene and four others who were sent to the hospital were later confirmed dead, authorities told reporters.
About 700 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters.
The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread 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.
Video from the scene showed at least five buildings close to each other ablaze, with bright flames and smoke shooting out of many of the apartments’ windows as night fell.
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.
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.
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.
