HONG KONG (AP) — 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.

Several local media outlets reported that police had arrested three men on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with fire which began Wednesday afternoon in a housing complex in Tai Po district, a suburb in the New Territories. By Thursday morning local time, the fire was yet to be put out and rescues continued with the death toll reaching 44.

Hundreds of residents were evacuated as the fire spread across seven of the eight buildings in the complex. At least 29 others remained hospitalized. Bright flames and smoke shot out of windows as night fell.

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