Firefighters on Wednesday found the charred body of a man in a warehouse in Fanling where a fire had earlier broken out.

At a media briefing, acting divisional officer of the Fire Services Department Chan King-keung said the blaze started at about 5am in Kwan Tei North Village and was upgraded to a number three alarm at 6.50am.

He said the department had sent out a drone and a firefighting robot to help monitor the blaze.

The fire, affecting an area of 3,600 square metres, was surrounded shortly after 10am and was contained at around 1pm, Chan added.

He said four jets and four breathing apparatus teams, as well as a total of 253 firefighters and 21 paramedics, were mobilised to handle the incident.

Police said a trading company had rented the warehouse to store seafood and other food items.

Officers said the dead man was believed to be a worker of the company, but his identity was yet to be ascertained.

The force also said it was investigating the cause of the fire.