HONG KONG — At least four people have been killed in a major fire that spread across multiple high-rise apartment buildings in Hong Kong on Wednesday, authorities said.

Earlier reports said several people were trapped in the buildings.

Video from the scene showed at least five buildings close to each other ablaze, with flames coming out of many of the apartments’ windows. Firefighters were aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks.

The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the complex in the city’s Tai Po district. Records show the housing complex consisted of eight blocks housing almost 2,000 apartments.

The Hong Kong government reported four deaths and said three other people were hospitalized. Two of the injured were in critical condition and the other person was stable, a brief statement said.

Police said they had received multiple reports of people trapped in the affected buildings.

Hong Kong media said that one of the dead was a firefighter, but that could not be immediately confirmed.

The blaze was reported mid afternoon and upgraded to a No. 4 alarm fire, the second highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said.

Tai Po is a suburban area in the New Territories, in the northern part of Hong Kong and near the border with the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Bamboo scaffolding is a common sight in Hong Kong at building construction and renovation projects, though the government said earlier this year that it would start phasing it out for public projects because of safety concerns. — Agencies