At least 36 people are dead and over 250 are unaccounted for after a devastating fire ripped through an high-rise apartment complex in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in years burned through the night, leaving at least 44 people dead and 279 reported missing with rescuers still pulling residents from blazing high-rise apartment buildings into the morning.

A massive fire that tore through several large apartment buildings in Hong Kong has killed at least 36 people and left 279 missing, the city’s authorities said. Hundreds of firefighters were working to control the blaze in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district in the early hours of Thursday morning local time,

Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in years burned through the night, leaving at least 44 people dead and 279 reported missing with rescuers still pulling residents from blazing high-rise apartment buildings into Thursday morning.

Nine people were declared dead at the scene and four others who were sent to the hospital were later confirmed dead, authorities told reporters. At least 15 others were injured, and about 700 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters.

Hong Kong leader John Lee has said 36 people were reported killed in the fire that spread through a dense high-rise residential housing complex Wednesday. He said another 279 people were reported missing.

At least four people have died after a massive fire engulfed multiple high-rise towers of a residential complex in Hong Kong's northern Tai Po district on Wednesday (November 26), with thick grey smoke billowing out as emergency services battled to subdue the blaze.