A fire broke out in the World Trade Centre shopping mall and office complex in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay on Wednesday, leaving 13 people injured and 150 people trapped for more than an hour.
The South China Morning Post reported that the fire started out in a switch room in the shopping centre, before spreading to bamboo scaffolding and exterior cladding. Smoke filled the 39-storey building’s lower levels.
The retail area has been closed to shoppers while undergoing renovations, however, the restaurants are still operating on levels 14 to 38.
One woman in her 60s was treated for smoke inhalation and admitted to hospital and another 12 people were injured, one of them unconscious.
Hong Kong’s fire service rated the fire a category 3 on a scale of 1 to 5, however it was reported extinguished at 4.30pm local time.
