Fire traps people in Hong Kong high-rise

Hong Kong: A fire that sent up a column of flames and thick smoke trapped people in a high-rise Hong Kong housing complex on Wednesday, news reports said.

At least one person was severely burned, reports said.

The fire spread on bamboo scaffolding set up around the exterior of the complex in the city’s Tai Po district, Hong Kong media reports said. Live video from the scene showed an intense and rapidly burning fire.

The blaze was reported midafternoon and upgraded to a No. 4 alarm fire, the second highest level of severity, the city’s Fire Services Department said.

Police received multiple reports of people trapped in a building and one man severely burned, the South China Morning Post newspaper said.

Tai Po is in the northern part of Hong Kong in the New Territories and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.