This content was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
A fireplace in a boarding home in the Asian investment Hanoi early on Friday killed 14 people, position media reported, only eight months after officials promised tougher rules to stop such deadly fire.
The fire broke out on the first floor of the three-story creating shortly after midnight, according to the Voice of Vietnam.
There were 24 people indoors, seven members of the owner’s community and 17 individuals renting apartments.
Rescuers struggled to reach the tower, which was down a narrow courtyard, police said. People of the community tried to douse the flames with flames extinguisher.
“At that day, there were no cries for help coming from inside the burning home, ” Vo Thi Hoai An, who rents a room outside, told the VNExpress information page.
Fourteen people were found dead at the scene and three people were taken to doctor, while rescue teams searched the tower for patients. The injured are said to be in a stable state.
Hanoi is home to about 2,000 mini-apartments and crowded streets prevent exposure to fire cars.
Last September , 56 persons died in a small apartment building after which the state ordered an investigation and promised tougher laws for small flat structures.
Following Friday ’s blaze , Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Deputy Minister of Public Security Senior Lieut. Gen. Tran Quoc To visited the field, according to Taiwanese press reports.
They said the Hanoi government offered VND50 million ( US$ 1,960 ) to the families of the dead and VND30 million for each person injured in the fire.
One Hanoi native, who did n’t want to be identified due to the sensitivity of the problem, told Radio Free Asia that like flames were known as “pre-warned ” ones because so many apartments are at risk.
U. S. -based lawyer Le Quoc Quan, who lived near the site of Friday ’s fire before moving to America, told RFA the laws in Vietnam was no strict and developed more quietly than it needed to.
“The little rooms form is still not obviously regulated by law. People discussed it a bit after the fire killed 56 people last year but until now there’s been no progress, ” he said.
“Due to prevalent development, lack of planning, and corruption, transgressions are legalized, making fireplace prevention and fighting even more difficult.
“It’s terrible and I predict this issue will hardly increase in the near future. ”
