Hanoi: At least 14 people were killed and six others injured when a fire broke out in a small apartment in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi at midnight on Thursday, state media reported on Friday. The street on which the apartment is located in central Hanoi is just two metres wide, which prevented fire trucks from reaching it, and firefighters eventually brought the blaze under control using pipes, state media said. The narrow street made it take a long time to extinguish the fire.
The official Vietnam News Agency said the fire broke out at about 12.30am and was accompanied by several explosions, killing 14 people and injuring six others. Nguyen Thanh Trung, who lives near the apartment, said he was sleeping when he heard the explosions. He said he and others rushed in with a ladder to break windows and pull people out. State media said 24 people were in the building when the fire broke out, including seven members of the building owner’s family and 17 tenants. It said the injured were in stable condition and were being treated at Hanoi Transport Hospital.
fire spread in such a building
The fire started in a small courtyard in front of the building, which was used as a garage for selling and repairing electric bikes, and then spread to the entire building, state media reported. Trung said people often charged their motorcycle batteries there at night. Authorities said the families of the deceased would be given $1,962 in compensation, and the injured $1,177. More than 50 people died in a fire in Hanoi last September under similar circumstances. At that time too, rescue operations were hampered due to the city’s narrow streets. (AP)
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