A fire that erupted in a nine-storey apartment block in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuân District killed 56 people and injured 37 others, police said Wednesday, in the worst blaze in Vietnam in 20 years.
The fire started around 11:22 pm on Tuesday (4:22 pm GMT) in the parking floor of the building, where dozens of motorbikes were parked, according to the news agency VNS.
State media reported that among the dead were at least three children. The news agency quoted Hanoi police as saying that the owner of the building, Nguyễn Quang Minh, was detained for four months for investigation on charges of violating fire prevention regulations.
Witnesses said they heard screams from inside the building and saw a small boy thrown from a balcony to escape the flames. Several others also jumped from the block, some breaking their arms and legs.
The fire was contained in about 45 minutes and prevented from spreading to neighbouring houses.
About 150 people lived in the complex, authorities said.
The building, located in a narrow alley in a residential area of southwest Hanoi, had only one exit and no emergency ladder on the outside. The small balconies were surrounded by iron bars, trapping many residents inside their flats.
One survivor, Nguyen Thi Minh Hong, told AFP her family waited in their seventh-floor apartment at the back of the building for five hours before help arrived.
“We were sleeping when suddenly we felt very hot because the power had been cut. My husband opened the door and we heard people shouting for help and we saw smoke,” the 34-year-old said.
The family, which included her two children aged six and nine, tried to escape to the roof but were forced back into their apartment due to the heat of the fire.
“I was so scared. We stayed inside the room for five hours… I just tried to calm my kids down by holding a wet towel to their face,” she said from Hanoi’s Bach Mai Hospital.
“We were between life and death.”
Hundreds of people gathered later outside a Hanoi morgue, waiting to hear if their family members and friends were among the victims.
One group of five women, sitting on the floor outside the morgue, said their “whole family had gone”.
“They were our children and grandchildren,” they said.
Prime Minister Phạm Minh Chính, who visited the site Wednesday as well as survivors in hospital, ordered an investigation into the fire.
He also asked competent forces to quickly deal with the consequences of the deadly fire and trace the cause.
He urged Hanoi to provide material and spiritual support to the victims’ families and instructed competent forces to identify and punish any wrongdoings related to the fire.
He also called for more regulations on firefighting in mini apartment buildings and densely populated areas, and more communication work in this regard.
Vietnam has experienced several deadly fires in recent years, often at entertainment venues.
A year ago, a karaoke bar blaze near commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City killed 32 people and injured 17. The owner was later arrested on charges related to breaching fire prevention regulations.
In 2018, 13 people died after an apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City caught fire.
Another 13 died in 2016 in a karaoke venue in Hanoi following a fire.
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