Hong Kong Probes Cause of Blaze in Shopping District

HONG KONG—Hong Kong authorities on Friday were investigating the cause of a huge blaze that broke out overnight at a construction site in a popular shopping district and forced 170 people in nearby buildings to evacuate.

After the fire broke out at Mariners Club, a redevelopment project located in densely-populated Tsim Sha Tsui at 11:11 p.m. on Thursday, there have been no reports of injuries or deaths. Multiple floors of the structure—including scaffolding—were on fire, and burning debris floated in the air.

According to the Empire Group, their redevelopment plan included the construction of a landmark 42-story building to house the historical Mariners’ Club as well as a hotel.

Keung Saiming, deputy chief of fire officers, said that most of the flames had been put out by 8:15 a.m. Around nine hours had passed since firefighters battled the fire.

Keung explained that firefighters arrived on the scene at night to find flames across multiple floors. However, temporary equipment wasn’t available.

It is currently under construction so the firefighting equipment found in many other buildings cannot be used.