A massive fire ripped through high-rise residential buildings in Hong Kong on Nov. 26, killing dozens of people as authorities search for hundreds of missing pepole.
The fire broke out in Wang Fuk Court, a 32-story high-rise housing complex that houses 2,000 residential apartments across eight blocks, according to Reuters. The complex is located in the Tai Po district of Hong Kong, near the border between Hong Kong and mainland China.
The fire - the deadliest blaze in Hong Kong in three decades - left at least 36 people dead, including a firefighter, 29 hospitalized and 279 missing. About 900 people were in shelters.
Dramatic images from the scene showed the building's bamboo scaffolding engulfed in flames and thick plumes of dark smoke rising as firefighters below battled the blaze.
Harry Cheung, 66, who has lived in one of the complexes for more than 40 years, told Reuters he heard a loud noise around 2:45 p.m. local time and saw fire erupt in a nearby block.
"I don't even know how I feel right now. I'm just thinking about where I'm going to sleep tonight because I probably won't be able to go back home."
China's President Xi Jinping urged an "all-out effort" to extinguish the fire and to minimize casualties and losses, China's state broadcaster CCTV said. But Derek Armstrong Chan, deputy director of the Hong Kong Fire Department, told reporters at a news conference the "extremely high temperatures” are making it difficult to reach those trapped inside, CNN reported.