More than 100 people were lucky to escape unscathed when a 400 square meter blaze razed squatter homes and subdivided flats in a remote village in Yuen Long district in New Territories West.
At 12.10pm, a fire broke out in one of the units in a row of one- to two-story tin squatter houses, which the landlord leased to people as warehouses, garages and subdivided flats. Several explosions could be heard during the fire, which were believed to be LPG canisters.
Around 120 locals, Filipinos, Indonesians and Africans were lucky to escape unharmed.
Dozens of Filipino and Indonesian maids were believed to be having a party in the unit that sparked the fire, Apple Daily reported.
It took firefighters three hours to put out the blaze at 3:14pm. A total of 135 firefighters and paramedics were deployed, and seven jets and six breathing apparatus teams were mobilised to extinguish the blaze.
Oriental Daily said the squatter houses and some neighbouring wooden huts were completely razed.