Hong Kong, Nov. 26 (LaPresse) – Twelve people, including a firefighter, have died and at least 16 have been seriously injured in the fire that broke out in a residential complex in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district. The South China Morning Post reports that the flames engulfed the bamboo scaffolding of all eight blocks of the complex. Police said they had received multiple reports of people trapped inside the building where the fire started. In Hong Kong, fires are classified on a scale from 1 to 5, with higher numbers indicating greater severity: the South China Morning Post reports that the blaze was initially classified as a level-1 alarm, but was quickly upgraded to level 4 at 3:34 p.m. local time and later to the maximum level 5 at 6:22 p.m. Bamboo scaffolding is common in Hong Kong for building and renovation projects, but earlier this year the government announced plans to phase it out from public projects for safety reasons. Tai Po is a suburban area located in the northern part of Hong Kong, near the border with the Chinese city of Shenzhen.
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