Witnesses say victims of a Hanoi high-rise fire jumped from upper stories to escape the blaze

HANOI – Ten youngsters had been amongst the 56 folks killed in a blaze in a Hanoi high-rise, police mentioned Thursday, which some citizens desperately attempted to escape by means of leaping out of upper stories, in accordance to witnesses.

Authorities have nonetheless now not launched the motive of the fire, which broke out simply sooner than middle of the night Tuesday and wasn’t extinguished till Wednesday morning in the nine-story condo development in Vietnam’s capital.

With the fire out, handiest incense burned Thursday morning outdoor the development at a makeshift shrine arrange by means of buddies and family members to pay their respects to the useless.

Witnesses advised The Associated Press that it seemed that {an electrical} switchboard stuck fire on the floor ground, which was once extensively utilized for the parking of round 80 motorbikes and bicycles, sending thick smoke billowing thru the development.

Nguyen Thi Thu Huyen advised the AP that each one 5 participants of her circle of relatives had been slumbering on the first ground once they heard any person name out “fire.”

By that point, the smoke was once already so dense they may handiest slightly make out flames coming from the ground underneath them.

She ran out together with her 4-year-old son, husband and sweetheart’s father, however her spouse’s mother wasn’t ready to make it to the staircase in time sooner than it stuffed with smoke.

Huyen says her husband made it again inside of, after which he and her spouse’s mother had been ready to make it down a ladder a neighbor had propped up onto their balcony.

“We’ve lost everything, but it doesn’t matter because the entire family escaped the fire,” she mentioned.

“We survived the tragedy but it breaks my heart that many of my neighbors couldn’t make it.”

As the fire unfold, folks on upper flooring were given increasingly more determined and Pham Thu Hang, a pharmacist who lives throughout the boulevard, mentioned that many started to soar.

“We brought out mattresses and blankets as cushions for people to jump down, but many were panicked and they jumped regardless,” she said. “Some landed on neighbors’ hard roofs. I could hear the thudding sounds. Jumping out would give a better chance to survive than being trapped inside.”

Hanoi police mentioned in a observation Thursday that some whole households had been killed in the blaze, and that thus far they have got handiest been ready to establish 39 of the 56 victims.

Another 37 folks had been injured, about part of whom had been taken to Bach Mai medical institution.

Hospital director Dao Xuan Co mentioned that some required rapid operations for head and spinal accidents. Many additionally suffered damaged bones and medical doctors had been checking for inner accidents as neatly.

“The victims were panicked and jumped off from the tall building, so besides smoke inhalation, they also sustained multiple injuries,” he said.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and his Cabinet seen a minute of silence at the get started of a assembly Thursday in honor of the victims.