Hong Kong: Fire At World Trade Centre Leaves More Than 100 Trapped On Roof

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More than 100 people have been trapped on the roof of Hong Kong’s World Trade Centre awaiting rescue after a fire broke out on Wednesday.

Hong Kong police confirmed to the BBC that at least eight people were injured and had been sent to hospital.

Police said the fire broke out in the machine room and moved to the scaffolding around the building, which is currently under renovation.

No fatalities have been reported and rescue operations are still under way.

The eight who are injured are aged between 31 and 72. A total of 150 people have been evacuated so far, according to authorities.

All the shops had been vacated during the renovation works, leaving only several levels of the building in operation – mostly restaurants and offices, according to the South China Morning Post.

The fire has been classed as a level three incident, with five being the most severe. The blaze at the 38-storey World Trade Centre on Gloucester Road was first reported at lunchtime.

Among those in the building when it caught fire was Meiling Lai, who was having lunch at a Chinese restaurant on the 12th floor when the building caught fire.

She told the BBC the fire alarm went off about 10 minutes after smoke first appeared in the restaurant.

“We asked the wait staff what happened and they said something caught fire on the lift shaft on the fifth floor, but they didn’t say a fire had broken out,” Ms Lai told the BBC’s Grace Tsoi.

“No alarm was heard. A staff member even said: ‘We are not leaving yet, don’t be afraid.'”

She was trapped along with about 80 people on a podium on the fifth floor, she said, before the group was rescued safely by firefighters.

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