Hong Kong fire devours homes

RESIDENTS anxiously awaited news of their loved ones yesterday at a temporary shelter as one of Hong Kong's deadliest fires in decades engulfed a 2 000-unit high-rise complex.

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The blaze, still smoldering early Thursday, has claimed at least 44 lives, with authorities reporting hundreds more remain unaccounted for.

It started on Wednesday afternoon, shocking the financial hub with some of the world’s most densely populated and tallest apartment blocks.

Sounds of bamboo scaffolding burning and exploding could be heard at the site.

Thick smoke billowed upward from buildings.

“I truly think it’s very scary. I am watching it spread from just one building to three, then four,” Veezy Chan, 25, a resident of the area, said. “It’s really terrifying.”