Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Blaze at Vietnam condos takes 13 lives
HANOI, Vietnam — At least 13 people were killed and 28 were injured in an overnight fire at a condominium complex in southern Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, with police saying Friday that it was unclear if anyone was missing.
State media outlets quoted the city’s police and fire department as saying police rescued more than 100 residents while more than 1,000 escaped the fire themselves.
The Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted Ho Chi Minh City Mayor Nguyen Thanh Phong as saying he was told by residents that the fire alarm system did not work and residents alerted others to the fire.
The three buildings with 14 to 20 floors have more than 700 apartments. They were built six years ago in Vietnam’s southern commercial hub, formerly called Saigon.
Reports said most people died of suffocation or from jumping from high floors.
The official Vietnam News Agency said more than 200 firefighters worked more than an hour to get the fire under control.
The fire started in the basement garage, with reports saying doors that separated the garage from the upper floors should have been shut, but they were opened, which allowed the smoke to rise to the upper floors.