About 150 people were trapped on the roof when a fire broke out on Wednesday in Hong Kong’s World Trade Centre. Close to 13 people were injured before firefighters put out the blaze, police and the fire department said. The injured were taken to hospital, police said, with one of them semi-conscious.
Firefighters had battled the blaze with two high-powered hoses, using ladders and breathing apparatus in their effort to rescue those trapped, city authorities said.
The 39-floor World Trade Centre houses restaurants, offices and shops in the bustling Causeway Bay commercial and shopping district. The fire broke out in a utility room on a lower level of the building’s mall at noon, according to media, before it spread to bamboo scaffolding cladding the exterior.
“The fire was extinguished at 1630 hours (0830 GMT),” the fire department said.
Earlier, shoppers and office workers streamed out of the building as smoke billowed from it and police blocked off traffic on major adjacent roads. About 100 people moved from a restaurant to the top 39th floor when the fire broke out and smoke filled the dining area.
The cause of the fire was however not immediately clear.
