Hanoi: At least 14 people were killed in an overnight fire in a small apartment building in Vietnam's capital Hanoi, leaving six others injured, according to state media on Friday. The official Vietnam News Agency said the fire started around 12:30 a.m. and was accompanied by several explosions.
It took an hour to extinguish the fire, and state media reported 24 residents were in the building, seven in the owner’s family and 17 tenants. The injured are stable and being treated at Hanoi Transport Hospital. The building was in a narrow alley in central Hanoi with several rooms available for rent.
Firefighters managed to rescue seven people from the fire at a five-story building in a small alley in Vietnam's capital city, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement. The ministry said it is investigating the cause of the fire, whose victims are yet to be identified.
The fire started from a small courtyard in front of the building that was used as a garage for the sale and repair of electric bikes, state media reported. The building is situated down a two-metre-wide alley, with the top floors of the building rented out, Telegraph reported citing local media.
Notably, a massive fire in an apartment block in Hanoi killed at least 56 people and injured dozens in September last year. Authorities in fast-growing Hanoi say many newly-built apartments do not meet fire safety regulations, according to BBC. The city's population has quadrupled to 5.25 million in the past 20 years.
The fire in September broke out during the night in a nine-storey building, home to about 150 residents, according to the VNA. Several of the victims were admitted to local hospitals with multiple injuries after having jumped from their windows to escape the fire and police had detained the owner of the building.
In 2022, 33 people died in a fire at a karaoke club in southern Vietnam where windows were bricked up, blocking escape. There have been many similar tragedies in other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, where regulations were found afterwards either to be inadequate or in many cases simply not enforced.
(with inputs from agencies)
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