A skyscraper under construction in the heart of Hong Kong’s historic shopping and tourist district was gutted on Friday by a massive fire, with authorities saying the fire had been extinguished.
AFP reporters on the scene saw blackened concrete walls and the remains of bamboo-and-tarpaulin scaffolding around the building on Friday morning, as municipal workers swept the road clear of debris.
Officials said the fire in Tsim Sha Tsui on the city’s harbor side was “largely extinguished” by 8:30 a.m. local time (00:30 GMT) on Friday, nine hours after it first erupted.
A major section of neighboring Nathan Road – one of Hong Kong’s main transport routes – has been closed, authorities said, causing traffic snarls.
No casualties were reported with two people being treated for minor injuries, the fire department said. Police told AFP that 170 people from a nearby block of flats were moved to a safe distance as embers fell to the ground.
The fire was first seen near the scaffolding on top of the building on Thursday night, with the blaze clearly visible across the harbor and sending sparks of rain onto neighboring streets.
About an hour later, the fire had spread the length of the building and reached street level, where hundreds of onlookers had gathered.
Japanese tourist Tosho Sai, who was staying in a nearby building, said a security guard told everyone on the floor to leave after a window in the unit next door caught fire.
French business travelers passing the site said they saw “a lot of debris falling” from the tower.
An acrid smell permeated the air, an AFP reporter at the scene said.
Fire was seen on the roof of an office tower across the street around 3:30 a.m., prompting fears of a more widespread fire in the built-up area.
On Friday, senior fire official Keung Sai-ming said buckets had caused two fires on the roof of the building, but they were quickly extinguished.
“There was a strong wind at night, which caused fire to five nearby buildings,” he said.
This building is billed as a 42-storey “symbol of the edge” in the making, intended to house the historic Mariners’ Club and a new hotel, according to the website of its developer, Empire Group.
The HK$6 billion ($764 million) redevelopment project has been greenlit in 2019 and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023, according to local media.
Empire Group did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment.