13-9-2023 (HANOI) A devastating apartment fire in western Hanoi has resulted in the loss of more than 50 lives, leaving families and friends anxiously awaiting confirmation of their loved ones’ fate. The fire broke out late on Tuesday night in a 10-storey building with limited means of escape, including only one exit and balconies barred with wire.
Residents and neighbors in the southwest capital reported hearing screams as individuals struggled to flee the rapidly spreading flames and thick smoke. Authorities have confirmed that 56 people lost their lives in the incident, with an additional 37 individuals sustaining injuries. State media has reported that among the deceased, three were children.
Outside a morgue located in a military-owned hospital, hundreds of people gathered, hoping for information about their relatives. Officials periodically appeared at the entrance, using a loudspeaker to announce the identification of another victim. Medical workers, holding up photographs on mobile phones or providing descriptions of the deceased, asked grieving family members if they recognized their loved ones. Each positive identification elicited cries of anguish from the waiting crowd.
While authorities attempted to prevent families from speaking with journalists, one man, overcome with grief, revealed that his daughter had perished and expressed fears that his wife had also lost her life. Tearfully, he said, “I lost my daughter, who was staying with her mother. I guess she did not make it either.”
A group of five women sitting on the floor outside the morgue shared their heartbreak, stating that their entire family had perished. “They were our children and grandchildren,” they mournfully declared.
Inside the morgue, families who knew their loved ones had perished endured hours of waiting to retrieve the bodies. Dung, a man who had lost two young cousins in the fire, spoke of his family’s sorrow. The cousins, a man and a woman, had left their home in the nearby coastal province of Thai Binh to pursue their studies. Dung said, “They were at university here. Our family bought them this small apartment. We are waiting here to bring them back to our home province for burial, but we don’t know when they are going to release the body.”
According to state media, the city of Hanoi plans to provide approximately US$1,500 in compensation to families for each deceased adult, with additional compensation for those who lost a child in the tragedy.
The apartment complex, nestled in a residential area of the capital, housed several young families who had migrated from different provinces for work or education purposes. The building, which lacked an emergency ladder on the exterior, accommodated approximately 150 residents.
Tran Thi Lien, a 65-year-old survivor who had purchased a second-floor apartment in the block eight years ago, revealed that residents had repeatedly requested improved fire safety equipment to no avail. “They still did not do it,” she lamented. “When people die like this… it causes so much suffering.”
