Authorities confirmed Wednesday night that nine individuals were found dead at the scene, and four others who were transported to the hospital later succumbed to their injuries. At least 15 additional people sustained injuries in the incident.
Approximately 700 residents were displaced and have been relocated to temporary shelters.
The inferno erupted with a towering column of flames and thick smoke, rapidly engulfing the bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that surrounded the housing complex in the Tai Po district, located in the New Territories.
Official records indicate that the housing complex comprised eight blocks, containing nearly 2,000 apartments and home to about 4,800 residents.
Video footage captured at the scene depicted several buildings in close proximity engulfed in flames, with vivid blazes and smoke billowing from numerous apartment windows as darkness descended. Firefighters were seen using ladder trucks to spray water on the fierce flames.
The fire began in the mid-afternoon, and as night approached, authorities elevated the situation to a level five alarm, the highest severity rating, according to the Fire Services Department. The blaze persisted beyond midnight local time.
Firefighters deployed 128 fire trucks and 57 ambulances to the scene.
The dead included one firefighter and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung told reporters.
Police said earlier that 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.
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.
