Smoke rises from a building in Hanoi, Vietnam Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Authorities said "many" people had been killed after a fire broke out in the apartment block. (Nhan Huu Sang/ VNA via AP)
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) – A fire in a nine-story apartment building in Vietnam’s capital killed about 12 people and injured more than 50, state media reported Wednesday.
The fire has been extinguished and rescue operations were continuing, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. Authorities have not confirmed an exact death toll.
The fire was believed to have started late Tuesday and rescuers struggled to reach the building on a narrow lane in south Hanoi. It wasn’t immediately clear how much of the building had burned.
It was home to 150 residents, and 54 of the 70 people rescued from the fire were hospitalized for their injuries, state media said.
Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.
A deadly fire at a karaoke parlor in southern Vietnam’s Binh Duong province killed 32 people last year.
