TOWERING INFERNO

Terrifying Videos of Skyscraper Blaze Show Flaming Embers Engulf Popular Hong Kong District

The 42-story Kimpton Hong Kong, which was still under construction, burned for over nine hours.

Visitors to a bustling Hong Kong shopping district were confronted with a scene straight out of a disaster movie on Thursday night, when a skyscraper still under construction caught fire. The 42-story building meant to house the swanky Kimpton Hong Kong hotel burned for over nine hours before firefighters finally got the inferno under control in the wee hours of Friday morning. The flaming embers raining down from the tower set a few nearby buildings ablaze, and two injuries were reported. The Kimpton was to be built on the site of an old mariner’s club in the popular Tsim Sha Tsui, which draws both tourists and locals with its high-end shops, restaurants and panoramic views of the harbor. This kind of construction catastrophe is rare in Hong Kong, where high rises are usually wrapped in a protective bamboo casing until they are completed.