Ms Wong, a 68-year-old retired Hongkonger, was getting ready for her afternoon nap when two firefighters banged on the door of her high-rise flat, warning her of a blaze on the lower floors.

“I looked out of the window and saw smoke. I was so scared I left with them immediately. I didn’t even take anything with me. Rushing down 25 floors almost killed me. But thanks to them I escaped,” she said on Thursday, shaking as she watched an army of firefighters work to extinguish the last of a blaze that has devastated several large apartment buildings. At least 55 people have died while 279 are missing.

The fire broke out on Wednesday in Wang Fuk Court, a typical Hong Kong residential complex with apartment blocks more than 30 storeys high, and quickly spread to seven of the estate’s eight towers.