Safety checks at skyscraper after Hong Kong firefighters battle blaze for 9 hours in major shopping district Tsim Sha Tsui
- The blaze, which broke out at around 11pm on Thursday, was put out at 8.30am
- Fire was upgraded to No 4 alarm on five-point scale at 1.46am
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Fire breaks out at Hong Kong skyscraper under construction in major shopping district
Hong Kong authorities are checking the structural safety of an under-construction skyscraper and whether scaffolding is at risk of collapse after a huge blaze engulfed the building before being finally put out nine hours later on Friday morning.
Burning debris and flying embers from the 48-storey scaffold-covered tower, located on Middle Road in the Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district, caused fires on balconies of a nearby hotel and at a commercial building.
The No 4 alarm blaze was the second recorded fire at the former Mariners’ Club construction site in half a year, with 50 workers forced to evacuate the location last September after low-level bamboo scaffolding caught fire.
Empire Group, which is building a hotel at the site, said in a statement that it was cooperating with “various investigations” by government departments and called on its main contractor, CR Construction Co, to manage the situation appropriately.
On Friday, flames lit up the night sky and could be seen from the other side of Victoria Harbour as the blaze was upgraded to a No 4 alarm fire on the one-to-five scale of seriousness at 1.46am.
