At least 36 dead and 279 still missing as blaze engulfs Hong Kong residential complex

At least 36 people have died and 279 remain missing after a fire tore through a Hong Kong residential complex on Wednesday, engulfing seven apartment blocks covered in bamboo scaffolding.

Nine people were pronounced dead at the scene, and four others died after being taken to the hospital, authorities said. At least 15 others were injured and about 700 residents were evacuated to temporary shelters.

The blaze broke out in the mid-afternoon at the housing estate in Tai Po district in the New Territories and rapidly spread across the scaffolding and construction netting covering the buildings' exteriors.

Video footage showed flames and thick smoke pouring from apartment windows across multiple towers as darkness fell. Firefighters battled the inferno from ladder trucks while authorities raised the alert to level 5, the highest severity classification.

The Fire Services Department deployed 128 fire trucks and 57 ambulances. One firefighter was among the dead and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Fire Services Director Andy Yeung said.

Police received multiple reports of people trapped inside the buildings. Lo Hiu-fung, a member of the Tai Po District Council, told local broadcaster TVB that most of those trapped were believed to be elderly residents.

The housing complex consists of eight blocks containing almost 2,000 apartments housing about 4,800 people, according to records.

District officials opened temporary shelters for displaced residents.

"I've given up thinking about my property," a resident identified by their surname Wu told TVB. "Watching it burn like that was really frustrating."

Tai Po is a suburban area in the northern New Territories near the border with Shenzhen.

Bamboo scaffolding remains widely used in Hong Kong for construction and renovation work. However, the government announced earlier this year it would begin phasing it out for public projects due to safety concerns.