Actress hurt, 80 escape in flat blaze

Film actress Pauline Chan Po-lin suffered burns to her left leg when she accidentally set her Mid-Levels home on fire.

About 80 residents were evac uated from a 29-storey building in Seymour Road when the blaze broke out in her ninth-floor flat shortly before 3am yesterday.

Firemen used one water jet and wore breathing apparatus to fight the blaze. It was put out in nine minutes.

Chan, 26, told police she suspected there was a man in her flat and had used a lighter to check but accidentally set fire to a pillow. She did not need hospital treatment.

No other person was found in the apartment.

A police officer, 24, overcome by smoke while evacuating residents, was sent to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment.