Death toll in Hong Kong fire rises to 94

The number of people killed in a major fire in Hong Kong has risen to 94, the Xinhua news agency noted citing the city"s firefighting service, Report informs via TASS.

Earlier updates put the death toll at 83.

Firefighters told South China Morning Post that the majority of dead bodies were discovered in two buildings where flames have been the fiercest.

The number of those who received burns or injuries has risen to 155, including 11 firefighters.

The fire broke out on Wednesday at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate, comprising eight high-rise buildings in total.

Flames engulfed seven apartment blocks, while the last one was practically intact.

Flames spread rapidly across bamboo scaffolding, installed around these buildings during renovation works.

The housing estate has almost 2,000 apartments, home to around 4,000 people.

08:05

Firefighters battled a blaze at a high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong for the second day on Thursday, as the death toll rose to 75 in one of the deadliest blazes in the city's modern history, Report informs via AP.

Rescuers holding flashlights were going from apartment to apartment at the charred towers as thick smoke continued to pour out from some windows at the Wang Fuk Court complex, a dense cluster of buildings housing thousands of people in Tai Po district, a northern suburb near Hong Kong's border with the mainland.

It was unclear how many people were missing or trapped. Hong Kong leader John Lee said contact had been lost with 279 people early Thursday. Authorities did not provide updates on the missing people or how many were still inside the ravaged buildings on Thursday during a press conference.

Latest video showed rescuers searching in some apartments in the dark. Orange flames were still seen from inside several windows, though the whole complex was now largely a blackened ruin.