Fire rages through bamboo scaffolding at Hong Kong high-rise residential complex, killing 13

Smoke rises after a fire broke out at Wang Fuk Court, a residential estate in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong’s New Territories on Wednesday (AP Photo/Chan Long Hei)

HONG KONG — A fire spread across multiple high-rise apartment buildings in a Hong Kong housing complex today (Wednesday), killing 13 people and leaving others trapped inside, authorities said.
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. Firefighters were aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks.
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 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.
The Hong Kong government reported four deaths and said five other people were hospitalized. Three of the injured were in critical condition, one in serious condition and the other person was stable, a brief statement said.
The dead included one firefighter and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung told reporters.
Police said they had received multiple reports of people trapped in the affected buildings, but did not provide details.
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 was reported mid afternoon, and after nightfall authorities upgraded it to a level 5 alarm, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said.
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.

(UPDATED at 20:38]