Hong Kong leader John Lee has said that 36 people were reported killed in the fire that spread through a dense high-rise residential housing complex Wednesday and that another 279 people were reported missing.

Lee added that 29 people remained hospitalized.

He said the fire, which broke out at a residential complex in Tai Po, a suburb in the New Territories, was "coming under control" shortly past midnight.

The raging fire sent up a column of flames and thick smoke as it spread quickly on bamboo scaffolding and construction netting that had been set up around the exterior of the housing complex. Records show the complex consisted of eight blocks with almost 2,000 apartments housing about 4,800 people.

Video from the scene showed multiple buildings close to each other ablaze, with bright flames and smoke shooting out of many of the apartments' windows as night fell. Firefighters were aiming water at the intense flames from high up on ladder trucks.

The blaze started mid afternoon and after nightfall authorities upgraded it to a level 5 alarm, the highest level of severity, the Fire Services Department said. The fire was still raging late into the night.

Firefighters deployed 128 fire trucks and 57 ambulances to the scene.

The dead included one firefighter and another was being treated for heat exhaustion, Fire Services Department Director Andy Yeung told reporters.

Police said earlier that they had received multiple reports of people trapped in the affected buildings but did not provide details.

Lo Hiu-fung, a Tai Po District Council member, told local TV station TVB earlier Wednesday that most of the residents trapped in the fire were believed to be elderly people.

District officials in Tai Po have opened temporary shelters for people left homeless by the fire.

"I've given up thinking about my property," a resident who only provided his surname, Wu, told TVB. "Watching it burn like that was really frustrating."

Tai Po is a suburban area 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.