Multiple people dead after blaze travels across high-rise buildings
Thirteen people died in a fire that spread through several high-rise apartments in a Hong Kong housing complex, the city’s fire department said on Wednesday.
Nine people died at the scene and four people sent to hospital were later confirmed dead, officials told reporters.
People around watch as the flames engulf the buildings.Credit: access point
In the video taken at the scene, it is seen that at least five buildings close to each other are in flames and flames are coming out of the windows of many apartments. Fire crews were spraying water on the intense flames from high with ladder trucks.
The raging fire created a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread through the bamboo scaffolding and construction netting installed on the exterior of the Wang Fuk Court mansion in the Tai Po district of the New Territories. Records show that the housing complex consists of eight blocks with approximately 2,000 apartments housing approximately 4,800 people.
The Hong Kong fire department confirmed that at least 13 people died in the fire.
The dead included a firefighter and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Department of Fire Services Director Andy Yeung told reporters.
Police said they had received numerous reports of people trapped in the affected buildings.
Tai Po District Council member Lo Hiu-fung told local TV station TVB early on Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.
