At least 10 killed in ‘huge fire’ at apartment block in Vietnam’s Hanoi

A fire in a nine-floor apartment building in Vietnam’s capital has killed at least 10 people, including four children, and injured more than 50 others.

The fire broke out at about midnight local time on Wednesday but had been contained by 2am (19:00 GMT), the official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported.

It said the building was home to 150 people and located down a narrow alley in a residential area southwest of Hanoi. Some 70 people were rescued from the block, with 54 of them rushed to hospital, it added.

State-owned national television channel VTV said four children were among those killed.

Television images showed firefighters equipped with hoses and ladders at the scene by night, while a column of thick, dark smoke billowed from the building during the day. The AFP news agency said the building’s small balconies were surrounded by iron, with the apartment block having only a single exit – and no emergency ladder on the outside.

“I heard a lot of shouts for help. We could not help them much,” a woman who lived near the block told AFP at the site. “The apartment is so closed with no escape route, impossible for the victims to get out.”

Another witness said a small child was thrown from a high floor to escape the flames.

“I was about to sleep when I smelled something. I went outside and saw the fire,” she said.

“The smoke was everywhere. There was a little boy thrown from a high floor, I don’t know whether he survived or not although people used a mattress to catch him,” she said.

Police have launched an investigation into the cause of the fire, the agency said.

Vietnam has experienced several deadly fires in recent years, frequently at entertainment venues like popular karaoke bars.

A year ago, a blaze in a three-storey karaoke bar in commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City killed 32 people. As many as 17 people were also injured in that fire, with the owner arrested on charges related to breaching fire prevention regulations.

In the aftermath of the tragedy, the prime minister ordered an inspection of all high-risk venues.

Thirteen people died in 2018 after an apartment complex, also in Ho Chin Minh City, caught fire.

Another 13 died in 2016 in a karaoke venue in Hanoi following a fire.

Source: Reuters