Firefighters are battling a blaze that broke out at the Chinachem Tower in Hong Kong’s central business district after scaffolding on the building caught fire on Saturday afternoon, with at least three people injured.

Police said they received reports of a fire at No 34-37 Connaught Road Central, the address of the tower, at about 4.24pm. The severity of the fire was upgraded after about 12 minutes.

“Informants said scaffolding facing a back alley of a building caught fire,” a police spokesman said. “Three people were said to have been trapped in a lift.”

A source said that three adults and a child had been rescued from a nearby convenience store. Two men and a woman were also rescued from a lift inside the building.

“[The three in the lift] were all conscious. Among them, one man and the woman were brought to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment,” the source said.

Pictures and videos circulated online show flames engulfing external scaffolding and black smoke billowing from the tower. The smoke reached into the sky, veiled parts of nearby streets and was also visible across the harbour in Tsim Sha Tsui.

Some media reports said explosions were also heard.