Hill fire on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island still burning after 17 hours

A hill fire in Tai O on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island is still burning after 17 hours, with three separate fires going that are two metres (6.6ft) by two metres each as of 10am Monday morning.

The fire was reported on Sunday at 4.51pm, with two fire lines of 100 metres and 50 metres reported at 10pm the same night.

The Government Flying Service was deployed to drop water bombs to douse the fire. Fire beaters and knapsack pumps were also used.

Another hill fire had earlier been reported at Yuen Long’s Kai Kung Leng mountain range. It was put out at around 2.08pm on Sunday, with the police first alerted at about 5.30pm the day before.

The blaze trapped two hikers on Saturday afternoon but they were later rescued.