The local government said 23 people were killed in a fire at a karaoke bar in Binh Duong province in southern Vietnam.
“We are still looking for victims, but 23 dead and 11 injured so far,” the state’s Communist Party leader Mai Hung Dun told AFP.
Flames reached the second and third floors of the four-story building, blocking customers and employees.
“Many ran to the front door, but others couldn’t stand the heat and jumped, breaking their arms and legs,” Nguyen Sang, a witness who lived nearby, told the newspaper VNEExpress.
The bar is located in a residential area of Thuan An city.
The cause of the fire has not been determined and is being investigated,” Nguyen Thanh Tam, a senior official in the Thuan An government near Ho Chi Minh City, told AFP.
This is the deadliest fire in Vietnam since 2018, when 13 people died in a fire at an apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City.
Vietnam Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has ordered inspections of high-risk locations, especially karaoke bars.
Another fire at a karaoke bar in Hanoi in 2016 killed 13 people and prompted a nationwide review of prevention measures.
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© Agence France-Press
source: Noticias
