14 Killed, 3 Injured In Vietnam’s Apartment Building

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News

HANOI (Worthy News) – An apartment building fire on a narrow alley in Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, has killed at least 14 people and injured six others, several sources said Friday.

“The fire broke out at around 12:30 am [local time]. The fire was big, with several explosions,” Vietnam News Agency said.

It took an hour to extinguish.

Pictures from the scene Friday morning local time showed rescue workers arriving at the scene. Witnesses saw charred belongings in the building’s courtyard and the blackened interior of the first floor.

The apartment building in central Hanoi could only be accessed through an alley just 2 meters (6.5 feet) wide, preventing firetrucks from reaching it, witnesses said.

Firefighters eventually contained the fire by using hoses.

Neighbor Nguyen Thanh Trung said he was asleep when he heard the explosions and rushed to see what was happening. “I could feel the shock at my house,” he told media, adding that he, along with others, got a ladder to break the window to help people escape.

DOZENS OF RESIDENTS

State media reported the building had 24 residents at the time, seven in the owner’s family, and 17 tenants. The injured were stable and being treated at Hanoi Transport Hospital.

Authorities were still investigating the cause of the fire, the latest deadly blaze to hit the communist country.

In Vietnam’s deadliest fire in two decades, 56 people died — three of them children — in a Hanoi apartment block blaze last September.

The country has experienced several other deadly fires in recent years, often at entertainment venues, highlighting broader concerns about blazes hitting Vietnam’s packed urban centers.

In 2022, at least 32 people were killed at a packed karaoke bar in southern Vietnam’s Thuan An due to a fire blamed on an electrical short circuit.

Between 2017 and 2022, 433 people were killed in some 17,000 house fires in the country, most of them in urban areas, said the Ministry of Public Security.

As an investigation was underway into Friday’s fire, the trauma remained for survivors. Neighbors reported hearing explosions “like firecrackers” Friday and screams from people inside and those living close by. “The fire grew strongly, destroying many motorbikes, electric bicycles, and bicycles in the yard area,” Hanoi police added.

And after rescue services found the victims, residents now faced rebuilding their shattered lives.

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