Scores evacuate as fire erupts at Hanoi apartment building, Vietnam

Hundreds of residents, including old people and children, fled their homes Sunday morning when a fire broke out at an apartment of a 34-story building in Hanoi.

Witnesses said smoke belched out from the apartment on the 12th floor of the 34T apartment building located in Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh residential area without the residents’ knowledge, as the fire alarm system did not work at the time.

The residents living at the property began to disperse only when passers-by and its security forces shouted to them with a loudspeaker.

Hanoi firefighing police immediately arrived at the building, and subdued the fire within several tens of minutes.

The fire was suspected to be caused by a short circuit in the air-conditioner which was put at the apartment’s balcony.

No casualties have been reported up to now.

Two other fires also broke out at this building in January and October of 2010. Read More