Hong Kong firefighters are battling a blaze that broke out at a construction site in the city’s popular shopping district.
The fire erupted at the site in Tsim Sha Tsui at about 11pm local time on Thursday night. No casualties have been reported.
The site is surrounded by a shopping centre, some residential and commercial buildings, with several hotels in the same area.
Police said four buildings nearby also caught on fire, but those blazes were extinguished.
This week, Hong Kong lifted its mask mandate, ending the city’s last major restriction imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Masks are no longer required both outdoors and indoors, including on public transit, but some high-risk areas including hospitals and elderly homes can still require their use.
Hong Kong had largely followed mainland China’s “zero Covid” strategy over the last three years and had some of the world’s strictest anti-virus rules. In the last six months, the government has taken bigger steps to open up in an attempt to revive the economy and catch up with rivals such as Singapore.
The crash is believed to have been caused by 'contact with birds'.