HONG KONG >> At least 36 people were killed and 279 were missing today after Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in three decades ripped through high-rise residential towers sheathed in flammable bamboo scaffolding, authorities said.

More than 10 hours after the fire started in the northern Tai Po district, flames and thick smoke still engulfed the 32-storey towers as rescue workers swarmed the site and shocked inhabitants watched nearby.

The cause of the blaze was not immediately known, but it was fanned by green construction mesh and bamboo scaffolding, which the government began phasing out in March for safety reasons.

Working through the night, firefighters were struggling to reach the upper floors of the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, which has 2,000 apartments in eight blocks, due to the

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