Hong Kong fire: witnesses describe ‘burning debris falling from

sky’ during 9-hour blaze

‘I immediately grabbed my phone and ran down to see what happened,’ an
American businessman staying at the Sheraton Hotel says

At 1am on Friday, an American businessman began hearing cracking and

popping sounds coming from outside at the Sheraton Hotel in Tsim Sha Tsui.

He looked out his window and was shocked to see burning debris falling from the
sky, as flames engulfed a 48-storey scaffold-covered tower – only about 100
metres (328 feet) away from his hotel.

“I immediately grabbed my phone and ran down to see what happened,” he said.
“I was nervous. The fire was really huge and I saw burning planks falling down.
Groups of people were already on the street when I came down. They were
either taking pictures or filming the fire.”

He was not the only one running when the under-construction skyscraper went
up in flames. About 170 residents and tourists in neighboring buildings were
evacuated.

Among the people startled by the fire were guests at the Imperial Hotel, just a
two-minute walk from the burning site.

People were worried as they could hear the flying debris falling onto their
windows.

Firefighters and police had said no evacuation was needed as the 17-floor
building was safe.
“They said it was safer to stay inside in case large debris fell down.”