Shocking footage has captured firefighters battling the deadly blaze at Wellington's Loafers Lodge that killed at least six people with many more unaccounted for.
Fire crews were called to the emergency on Adelaide Rd just before 12:30am on Tuesday morning when about 100 people were believed to be in the building, and there were reports of people still inside as much as 20 minutes after the fire started.
Video filmed by Axel Dann and supplied to Newshub shows flames bursting from the fourth storey of the building.
Another video was published on Facebook by Suzanne Tamaki that also captured large flames bursting from the building.
She told Newshub she lives across the road from the hostel and broadcast the footage live from her bedroom.
"Shit… it's so bad. I hope everybody got out of the building," Tamaki said in the video.
"Yep the roof is on fire… I think the floor that it started on, which is the fourth floor, is the kitchen."
Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) said "a number" of rescues had been carried out during the blaze, to which they sent 52 fire personnel, 11 fire appliances, three aerial trucks and several support vehicles.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins described the fire as an "absolute tragedy" on AM, while FENZ Wellington district manager Nick Pyatt said the scene encountered by crews first at the location was a "worst nightmare".
"It doesn't get worse than this," he said.
