Vietnamnet.vn
Podcast
According to some witnesses, to confront the tropical storm Nock-Ten, the footwear company hired some workers to weld the lightning-rod. While welding the rod, sparks shot out to nearby pile of materials and caused the terrified fire.
According to police, the 100sq.m workshop didn’t have a back door while its main door had been blocked by the intensive flames as the fire occurred. Of nearly 50 workers inside, only six luckily escaped.
There had been several unsuccessful attempts to rescue the victims because a big wall hindered the rescue. However, 15 minutes later, the wall was broken down and some victims were rushed to hospitals. Firefighters arrived on the scene 20 minutes later to extinguish the fire, which was put down at around one hour later.
According to police, 13 workers died of burning and choking and 25 others were brought to three local hospitals. The workshop owner’s younger brother was the first who escaped from the fire but he tried to rescue others and died in fire. Among the perished was a pregnant woman.
Burning victims were removed to the National Burn Hospital in Hanoi. Four of them died. The remaining, according to doctors, are in very bad condition.
The local government held an emergency meeting to investigate into the fire the same night. A local official said after the meeting that the footwear enterprise had operated for only 27 days and was not licensed yet.
Police have also detained five people for their involvement in the accident, including the factory owners, a Vietnamese woman and her Chinese husband, the couple who leased the land and two workers who welded the lightning-rod. All of them have been charged with violating safety regulations.
Local authorities have given VND10 million to each family of the dead victims and VND3 million to the injured.
Close-up of the scene of fire:
PV
.svg){kind=icon}
