Tyrone Siu / Reuters

Firefighters rescue people from the roof of a building after a fire broke out at hawker stalls on Fa Yuen Street at Mong Kok in Hong Kong on Nov. 30, 2011. Nine people were killed, according to a government radio station.

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Firefighters battle a fire at Fa Yuen Street on Nov. 30, 2011 in Hong Kong.

Tyrone Siu / Reuters

Reporters lie down on the roof of an illegal structure at a building as they film the scene after a fire broke out in Hong Kong on Nov. 30, 2011.

Agence France Presse reports:

A fire believed to be the work of an arsonist engulfed a Hong Kong residential block and popular tourist market early Wednesday, killing nine people and injuring 30, police said.

Ambulances rushed the injured to hospital as firefighters battled to put out the blaze, which started before dawn at a stall in the Ladies Market in the Mongkok area of Kowloon.

The narrow market street was a wall of flame and thick black smoke as the fire tore through the flimsy stalls and residential flats above, witnesses said. Continue reading.