Two hours facing the 'fire' in a mini apartment building

Smoke and fire invaded the floors, residents had to escape to the rooftop, some people holding small children jumped to the neighbor's roof, ambulances ran loudly in the night.

At around 11pm on September 12, Mr. Ngo Pho Dien, 67 years old, was on duty as a security guard at a mini apartment building in lane 29/70, Khuong Ha street, Thanh Xuan district, when he discovered a fire in an electrical outlet on the first floor. The fire was small, so he picked up a mini fire extinguisher and sprayed it. "But the more he sprayed, the bigger the fire became, so I quickly shouted to alert the residents," he said.

At that time, the 10-story apartment building, about 200 square meters in area, divided into 45 apartments for rent and resale, had almost all the lights off. Most of the residents were asleep. Hearing a small explosion and the fire alarm, some young men from the floors ran down to put out the fire.

But a series of motorbikes on the first floor caught fire, emitting a loud explosion. Smoke and fire quickly engulfed the first floor. Hot air and a column of gray smoke billowed up the stairs next to the elevator. The group of young men were suffocating, gave up the idea of ​​putting out the fire, and ran back up to find a way out.

The apartment building has 9 floors and an attic. The 2nd to 9th floors are apartments, each house is 35 - 56 square meters wide. The left side of the apartment building is adjacent to the alley, the back half is adjacent to residential houses, the other half is adjacent to the alley. Photo: Giang Huy

On the upper floors, residents opened their doors and rushed out, but the stairwell was packed with people. Many ran to the rooftop to call relatives, even asking for help on social media. Others jumped from the upper floors onto the roofs of their neighbors.

Among them is Mr. Duong Quyet Thang and his wife Tran Thi Thanh Huong. His family of five, including the couple and three children, lives on the third floor of a 50 square meter apartment. The apartment was transferred 8 years ago and is a place for the young family to settle down after many years of renting in Hanoi .

Mr. Thang's family was getting ready to go to bed when they heard the fire alarm. Waking up his wife and children, he decided to let his daughter, Duong Thuy Linh, 9, lead his younger brother, Duong Khanh Thien, 8, to the rooftop, hoping that the two children could escape the smoke and wait for the police to come rescue them. He and his wife stayed behind to find blankets and wet clothes to cover the cracks, preventing smoke from entering the apartment.

The smoke and fire were getting thicker and thicker, the elevator stopped working, and the stairs were inaccessible. All exits were blocked by the "fire god". Three members of Mr. Thang's family ran to the back loggia to find a way out from the tiger cage. Nearly a year ago, after many house fires, he had opened an escape route from here.

Mr. Duong Quyet Thang broke his left arm when he jumped from the third floor of a burning apartment building with his child onto the roof of a neighboring house on the night of September 12. Photo: Hong Chieu

Throwing the wet blanket onto the tin roof of the house next door, Mr. Thang hugged his 27-month-old daughter tightly and jumped from the third floor. The impact made him dizzy, he felt a sharp pain on his left arm and realized it was broken. His wife then jumped down as well. The tin roof was already sagging, and when it bore the heavy object, it broke. All three of them fell down below, endured the pain, crawled out amid screams, the sound of running footsteps, and the sound of fire sirens. Nearly ten minutes later, the rescue team arrived to rescue them and took the three to the hospital.

On the 6th floor, Trung's family proactively broke the railing and escaped to the roof of the neighbor's house on the 5th floor using the ladder usually used to burn incense. On the 7th floor, the family of Huy Minh, 9 years old, used wet towels to cover their mouth and nose, waiting for rescue. "My father called for help from room 702, and my mother told me to follow if the firefighters outside the window called to carry me down, not to be afraid," the boy said while being cared for at the Pediatric Center, while his parents were lying conscious at Center A9, Bach Mai Hospital.

About 10 minutes after the fire broke out, the first fire trucks arrived at the scene. By this time, the fire had spread to the upper floors, pouring out through the windows and vents, spilling out of the loggia, black smoke covering the area. At least 20 fire trucks were dispatched to the scene.

Because the apartment building was located deep in the alley, the entrance was only about 3 meters, forcing the fire truck to stop about 400 meters away. The soldiers pulled nearly ten large pipes from the water tank, some directly connected to the pump that sucked water from the small pond next to the apartment building. More than a hundred soldiers joined forces to put out the fire from all directions.

Mr. Huy and his wife and children escaped death by climbing down from the third floor with a rope. Photo: Pham Chieu

In front of the apartment building, firefighters climbed ladders and broke through the bars to get inside. Behind, water cannons continuously sprayed water to put out the fire and cool it down. The entire area lost power, and police had to use flashlights to approach the house from all sides to search for people.

Dozens of oxygen tanks were continuously pumped in, one after another, and brought inside. "Where's the stretcher?" a loud voice asked, dozens of ambulance stretchers rumbling in and out of the dimly lit alley. "Hang in there, son," the man carried the child wrapped in a thin blanket, and ran with all his might to the open ambulance parked at the end of the alley.

A firefighter said the building was dark, the stairs were slippery and full of obstacles, and the smoke was so thick that they had to use breathing apparatus. The only light from the flashlight overhead was not enough to cut through the thick smoke, forcing the rescue team to search each room for people. The priority was to save the survivors.

"We turned over to find people alive to bring out," he said.

A man holding a baby wrapped in a thin blanket ran out to the ambulance stretcher, continuously encouraging "keep it up, son", early morning of September 13. Photo: Pham Chieu

Mr. Pham Quoc Viet, FAS Angel First Aid Support Team, said that after 0:00 on September 13, two ambulances arrived at the scene to directly support the rescue. Not knowing which rooms had people, the team broke down the doors of each house and brought more than a dozen people out. The rescue was interrupted at times because of the terrible heat.

At 1am, the fire was basically under control, but there was still a lot of smoke inside, and a small fire at the front. It rained heavily in the morning, many soldiers were exhausted and had difficulty walking after nearly four hours of rescue. More than 10 police officers were injured, some had to be taken to the emergency room. The dead victims were covered with blankets and taken out at 5am.

On the evening of September 13, the initial investigation agency determined that the fire had killed 56 people (of which 39 victims had been identified) and injured 37 people.

Relatives are frantically searching for the victims. Mr. Thang, who jumped from the third floor of the apartment building, is also holding his left arm in a cast and rushing into the pediatric care room at Bach Mai Hospital with his 8-year-old son and 27-month-old daughter, then going out to the hallway to wait for news of his older daughter. The two sisters got separated when they ran to the 8th and 9th floors in a panic. His wife suffered injuries to her neck and back vertebrae and is being treated at Saint Paul Hospital.

Thang's parents and siblings are going to different hospitals to find information about their granddaughter. "We have been to nearly ten hospitals but have not found her yet," said Mr. Quynh, Thang's father-in-law, crying and praying continuously for her to survive.

Pham Chieu - Hong Chieu

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