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.”