AP
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A fierce fire broke out at a high-rise residential complex in Hong Kong on Wednesday, killing four people and trapping others inside, authorities said.
The city fire department announced that four people were killed and three were injured. Police earlier reported eight victims. The reason for the discrepancy was not immediately clear.
Hong Kong media said one of the dead was a firefighter, but that could not be immediately confirmed.
The raging fire sent columns of flame and thick smoke as it spread through bamboo scaffolding around the perimeter of the complex in the city’s Tai Po district. Live video from the scene showed firefighters spraying water from the top of a ladder truck onto the raging blaze.
The fire was reported in the mid-afternoon and was upgraded to a fourth-alarm fire, the second-highest severity level, the fire department said.
Police said they had received multiple reports of people trapped in the affected buildings.
Tai Po is a suburban area in the northern part of Hong Kong in the New Territories, near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.
