Fourteen people were killed and six others injured in an overnight fire at an apartment in a narrow street in the Vietnamese capital, Hanoi, state media said on Friday.
The apartment building in central Hanoi was only accessible through a two-meter (6-foot-five-inch) wide alley. As the fire engine could not reach there, the firemen extinguished the fire through pipes, state media said.
According to the Vietnam News Agency, the fire broke out at around 12:30 p.m. and several explosions were heard. It took an hour to extinguish the fire.
Neighbor Nguyen Thanh Trung said he was sleeping when he heard the explosion and went outside to see. “I could feel the shock in the house”, he said.
At the time of the fire, there were 24 people living in the building, including seven members of the owner’s family and 17 other tenants, according to the media. The injured are in stable condition and are being treated at Hanoi Transport Hospital.
According to state media, the fire broke out in a small courtyard near a building used as a garage for selling and repairing electric bikes.
Later, the police cordoned off the street. The apartment was littered with charred remains of burnt motorbikes and trees.
Officials have said that they will pay 1,962 dollars to the families of the deceased and 1,177 dollars to the injured.
The fire is reminiscent of the fire in Hanoi in September last year. More than 50 people died at that time. At that time too, the rescue operation was hampered by a narrow street.
