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Hundreds of people were trapped on the roof of the World Trade Center and dozens escaped to the fifth-floor balcony after a major fire broke out in the Hong Kong skyscraper Wednesday.
People fled to the roof after the fire started to spread while about 80 people went to the narrow balcony on the fifth floor waiting to be rescued by firefighters.
Ng Yau Sheung, a senior divisional officer of Hong Kong Fire Services Department, said firefighters escorted at least 770 people out of the building. An additional 40 people left the building alone without help from firefighters, he said.
At least 13 people were taken to the hospital for treatment following the fire. Three people sustained injuries and 10 others reported suffering from smoke inhalation. No fatalities have been reported, said authorities.
Meiling Lai was one of the people trapped on the fifth-floor balcony after the fire broke out.
She told the BBC she was eating lunch at a Chinese restaurant on the 12th floor of the building when they first started seeing smoke enter the room. She said it took about 10 minutes for the fire alarms to go off.
"No alarm was heard. A staff member even said: 'We are not leaving yet, don't be afraid,'" she said.
According to police, the fire started in the machine room and spread to the scaffolding around the building, which was under renovation, the BBC reported.
The fire services system had been shut off in the mall area, according to fire department officer Ng.
"If the system is under repair, it's possible that the contractor will shut down the area affected," he said during a news conference Wednesday evening.
Authorities said they were still looking into whether fire safety regulations had been breached.
The fire started in the early afternoon at the World Trade Centre on Gloucester Road in the city's popular Causeway Bay shopping district, according to a government notice. The 38-story tower houses both offices and a mall.
Dense smoke was seen billowing out from the building, and photos and videos from those trapped inside showed poor visibility as smoke filled restaurants and stairways of the building.
Authorities said that the fire spread from the building's bottom two floors, which is occupied by a mall undergoing extensive renovations.
Earlier, police had told local media that about 300 people had evacuated to the top of the building while waiting to be rescued.
Preliminary investigations by the police suggested that the fire had broken out in the electrical switch room located on the first floor of the shopping mall, before spreading to the scaffolding that surrounded part of the building, according to local newspaper South China Morning Post.
Authorities said the fire was under control by around 3:06 p.m. and was largely put out by 4:30 p.m.
The fire services department deployed 176 firefighters to the site. Two breathing apparatus teams and two water jets were mobilized to help fight the blaze, police said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
