Five people died and 41 were injured on Wednesday April 10 in a fire in a dilapidated building in Yau Ma Tei, one of the most densely populated districts of Hong Kong, according to firefighters.
The fire broke out in the New Lucky House building, which has 230 units and overlooks a busy intersection in Yau Ma Tei.
Firefighters rescued 250 people, and around XNUMX other residents managed to escape the building on their own, said Lam Kin-kwan, a fire service official.
Five people died from burns, asphyxiation or after jumping into the void, and 41 others were injured, he added, specifying that it took two hours for the more than 200 firefighters and rescuers dispatched to the scene to come to end of the fire.
Local television stations showed footage of residents waving towels from their windows to call for help, and others rushing to the building's roof.
The 13-story building housed 35 low-end hotels and several "subdivided apartments" - that is to say divided into a series of tiny "cage houses", in reality mesh beds, a form of unsanitary housing very common in a city known worldwide for its exorbitant real estate prices.
Fires were once a recurring scourge in Hong Kong, particularly in poor neighborhoods. They have become much less frequent in recent years, thanks to increased security measures.
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