In Vietnam’s capital city, Hanoi, a very big fire in an apartment building led to at least eight confirmed deaths and many people getting hurt.
Eight people have died, and many were hurt in a big fire at an apartment building in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Around 70 people were saved from the nine-story building, but local reports suggest that more people may have been affected. The fire started at night and has been put out, but rescuers are still working.
Officials in Hanoi, a city that has grown a lot in the past 20 years, say that many new apartments don’t follow fire safety rules. According to local reports, over 30 people, including children, may have lost their lives in this fire.
The cause of the fire is being looked into, but witnesses say it began in the parking area, which had many motorcycles. People in the building heard a loud noise around 11:00 PM, and then saw dark smoke spreading.
One family had to break the metal bars on their window to escape and used a ladder to reach a nearby building. Hoa, a woman who lives nearby, said, “I heard cries for help, but we couldn’t do much. It was very hard for the victims to get out because the building was sealed.”
Another person saw a small boy being lowered from a high floor to save him from the fire. “There was smoke everywhere. I’m not sure if he made it, but people used a mattress to catch him,” she explained.
Even though fifteen fire trucks were sent, they couldn’t get close to the burning building because the alley was too narrow.
This fire shows how difficult it is to ensure safety from fires in quickly growing cities where rules may not be well followed. A year ago, 33 people died in a fire at a karaoke club in southern Vietnam. The windows were blocked, making it hard to escape. Similar incidents have happened in other Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, where rules were either not enough or not enforced properly.
SOURCE: BBC