A massive fire ripped through multiple high-rise residential blocks in Hong Kong’s northern Tai Po district on Wednesday, killing at least 14 people and injuring scores as authorities struggled to bring the blaze under control.

Firefighters battled the orange flames into the night as thick black smoke billowed from the 32-storey towers, which were sheathed in bamboo scaffolding – whose use the government began phasing out in March for safety reasons – and green construction mesh. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known.

Fire authorities said they were grappling to get to the towers’ upper floors due to the intense heat, and containing the blaze was getting tougher after night fell.

The Wang Fuk Court housing complex, where the fire started, has 2,000 residential apartments comprising eight blocks. The Fire Services Department said it did not yet have a figure for the number of people who might still be inside the buildings.

Dozens of shocked residents, many sobbing, watched from nearby walkways as smoke funnelled up from the complex.

A firefighter was among the 14 killed, the director of Fire Services said, and more than 16 people have been injured.

The fire department said it received reports at 2:51 p.m. that a fire had broken out in Wang Fuk Court. By 6:22 p.m. it had been upgraded to a No. 5 alarm, the city’s highest.

Strong winds fanned the flames, causing the blaze to spread to seven of the complex’s eight blocks.

According to Hong Kong’s Transport Department said that due to the fire, an entire section of the Tai Po Road, one of Hong Kong’s two main highways, had been closed and buses were being diverted.

It was Hong Kong’s worst fire since 41 people died in a commercial building in the heart of Kowloon in November 1996. The fire was later found to be caused by welding during internal renovations.

A public inquiry yielded sweeping updates to building standards and fire safety regulations in the city’s high-rise offices, shops and homes.

—Reuters