A victim is brought out from the fire.
A report from Khuong Dinh Ward People's Committee showed that the fire broke out at 11.50 pm on September 12 from the ground floor of a mini apartment building on Lane 29/70, Khuong Ha Street. The 200-square-metre 10-storey building houses 150 people who are mostly renters. There were five apartments of between 20-30 square metres on each floor.
"By 5 am on September 13, over 100 people had been rescued safely while dozens of others were brought to hospital by local rescue teams," the committee said.
Many motorbikes parked at the building ground floor are burnt down in the fire.
Nguyen Manh Hung, a resident who lived on the third floor of the building said that the fire broke out in the parking area on the ground floor and spread very fast while they were going to sleep.
"We smelt the smoke and opened the door to see the spreading fire," Hung said. "I immediately shut the door and called my wife to flee from our balcony using a rope. Luckily we managed to take our three-year-old son down with us with the help from some neighbours on the ground."
PM Pham Minh Chinh, deputy chairman of National Assembly Tran Quang Phuong came to the site at noon on September 13 to send condolences to the victims.
Police are investigating the cause of the fire.
