56 people died in the fire at a residential building in Hanoi, the worst fire in Vietnam in 20 years.
• Also read: Vietnam: In front of a mortuary, the despair of the families of those who died in a fire in Hanoi
The fire broke out just before midnight (1700 GMT) on Tuesday in the parking lot of a 10-story building where witnesses said there were numerous motorcycles.
“56 people were killed and 37 injured,” police said in a statement. According to the same source, of the 56 deceased, 39 have been identified.
AFP
According to official media, at least three children died in the fire.
The building’s owner was arrested on suspicion of violating fire safety regulations, Hanoi police said.
“I heard many cries for help. We couldn’t help them much,” said a resident. She added that the building that caught fire did not have an “emergency exit.” “It is impossible for the victims to get out,” she told AFP.
Hundreds of people gathered outside a military-run mortuary in Hanoi during the day to help identify scores of bodies.
AFP
Officers appeared every half hour and announced over loudspeakers that a new victim had to be identified.
Some people burst into tears when they realized that family members were among those who died.
A group of five women sitting on the ground outside the mortuary realized that “the whole family was missing.” “They were our children and grandchildren,” she said.
“We don’t know when they will give us the bodies, we are waiting here to take them back to our province and bury them,” admits Dung from Thai Binh Province (North), who lost two cousins there in the fire.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, who ordered an investigation to be launched, visited the site and made his way through the charred motorcycles before heading to the bedsides of the victims, who were being treated at a hospital.
AFP
“We were sleeping when we suddenly felt very hot,” Nguyen Thi Minh Hong, a survivor who was being treated at a hospital, told AFP.
“I tried to calm my (two) children by holding a wet towel in front of their faces.” “We were between life and death,” she remembers.
Videos broadcast by local media showed the extent of the fire spreading across much of the 10-story building, located in a narrow alley in a residential area of the capital.
The layout of the alley, typical of the busy capital with eight million inhabitants, made access to the site difficult for rescue workers.
About 150 people lived in the building, whose balconies were protected by bars and cut off from the outside world.
Another witness, Huong, saw a young boy thrown out of a window to escape the flames.
“The smoke was everywhere. “A little boy was thrown from a high floor. I don’t know if he survived or if someone caught him with a mattress,” Huong described.
AFP
Neighbors saw residents jumping out of the building, risking their lives, and others fleeing through roofs.
“My family’s roof allowed 14, 15 people to escape,” said Dao To Nga, a neighbor of the damaged building.
Vietnam has seen several deadly fires in recent years, raising suspicions about the implementation of basic safety rules that are sometimes ignored in Southeast Asia.
A year ago, 32 people were killed in a fire in a karaoke bar near Ho Chi Minh City (south). The Prime Minister then ordered the inspection of risk sites.
Last December, about 26 people died in a fire at a hotel-casino on the Cambodia-Thailand border during the year-end holidays.
Cambodian authorities attributed the fire to an electrical short circuit and the building’s configuration, which delayed emergency response.