Hong Kong Firefighters Battle Blaze at High Rise Construction Site

A fire burns at a high-rise building under construction in the Tsim Sha Tsui district in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images

More than 130 people were evacuated from a commercial area in Hong Kong after a 42-story building that was under construction caught fire on Thursday night, causing at least two injuries.

The fire broke out at a redevelopment project of the Mariners’ Club in the Tsim Sha Tsui district at 11.11 p.m. (local time) and quickly escalated to a level three fire alarm at 11.37 p.m., according to the Hong Kong Fire Services Department.

The department said the fire was upgraded to a level four fire alarm at 1.46 a.m. on Friday. Firefighters mobilized two jets and three breathing apparatus teams to extinguish the fire.

“In addition to carrying out fire fighting operations at the site involved, fire officers have also been deployed to nearby buildings to prevent the spread of the fire,” the department stated in a Facebook post.

Firefighters battle a fire at a construction site in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. Louise Delmotte/AP Photo

At least two motorists were injured and taken to the hospital, local media RTHK reported. But their conditions are unknown.

Multiple floors of the structure, including the scaffolding, were engulfed in flames. Falling blazing debris caused small fires in nearby buildings, prompting the closure of some traffic on Middle Road in Tsim Sha Tsui.

The fire was brought under control at around 8 a.m. on Friday, according to the Fire Services Department, but the cause of the incident has not yet been determined.

Police said six adjacent buildings, including the three where the evacuation occurred and the Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers, also caught on fire, but those blazes were extinguished.

A firefighter sprays water onto a fire in Hong Kong on March 3, 2023. Louise Delmotte/AP Photo

The building is a 42-story project by the Empire Group to house the city’s Mariners’ Club and a hotel, according to the company’s website. Local media said the project was expected to be completed this year.

The site is surrounded by a shopping center, several hotels, and some residential and commercial buildings. Earlier in the night, crowds of onlookers gathered on the street to watch the firefighting operation.

As dawn broke, the fire was less serious than it had been hours earlier, although flames could still be seen on multiple floors. The structure’s exterior walls were blackened, and parts of its scaffolding appeared shaky.

The Mariners’ Club opened in 1967 to provide affordable accommodation to seafarers and was popular among maritime workers passing through Hong Kong.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.