An overnight fire in a small apartment building in Hanoi, Vietnam, killed at least 14 people and injured at least six others, state media said Friday.
The official Vietnam News Agency said the fire started around 12:30 a.m. and was accompanied by several explosions.
The injured are stable and being treated at Hanoi Transport Hospital.
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 building, which covers an area of 100 square meters, is located in a narrow alley approximately two meters wide and about 200 meters from Trung Kinh Street, making it inaccessible to fire trucks, VnExpress reported.
The rental multistory building has two rooms on each floor with the first floor used for electric bicycle sales and repairs, Vietnam News Agency reported.
Cause of fire
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.
A total of 1,555 fires and explosions happened in Vietnam in the first four months of this year, killing 28 people and injuring 26 others.
The fires and explosions caused property losses of some 89.8 billion Vietnamese dong (3.5 million U.S. dollars), according to the country’s General Statistics Office.
Other fire incidents
September last year, a fire at an apartment block in Vietnam’s capital Hanoi killed 56 people, among them children, and injured 37 others.
The fire broke out during the night in a nine-story building, home to about 150 residents, according to the official Vietnam News Agency.
Police detained the owner of the building, Nghiem Quang Minh, accusing him of violating fire-prevention regulations, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement, adding that an investigation into the case was underway.
Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh visited the site of the blaze and called for the completion of anti-fire regulations at small-sized apartment buildings and in densely populated residential areas, according to a government statement.
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