A middle-aged woman emerged, weeping and clinging to her companion, from a community hall now used as a victim identification station in the shadow of smouldering apartment towers that mark Hong Kong's worst fire in decades.

Dozens passed through the station on Thursday desperately seeking news of loved ones after the blaze tore through a residential estate in the northeastern district of Tai Po, killing at least 75 people and injuring and displacing hundreds more.

The small hall was set up so people could look through dozens of pictures of the dead. A makeshift sign on a nearby wall read simply: "Photo-viewing."

Paramedics and social workers stood ready inside.

"I cannot find my family members in the photos... If they have more photos, I may come again to take a look," said a woman su

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