At least 10 people died in a fire in a multistorey apartment building in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi, the country’s news portal VietnamExpress reported on Wednesday.
The fire broke out at a 10-storey apartment building in Hanoi’s Thanh Xuan District at 11 p.m. on Tuesday (16:00 GMT), when most of the residents had already gone to bed, the media outlet reported, adding that a total of 150 people were registered in the building.
The arrival of fire services was complicated by narrow streets and tight construction density.
About 70 people were rescued before the fire was finally put out in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Out of 70 rescued, 54 were immediately delivered to the city’s hospitals, but several died before receiving medical treatment due to burning and combustion poisoning, the portal reported.
Search and rescue operation are still ongoing and more victims and survivors may be found, the report added.
Emergency services still do not know the exact number of people who were in the building when the fire broke out.
However, eyewitnesses and firefighters said that at least several residents escaped the fire by jumping on the roof of neighboring buildings.
The media also reported that, according to preliminary investigation, the fire started in a bike parking lot, located on the building’s ground floor.
