Last night, firefighters battled a major blaze in Hanoi that tore through buildings near a children’s hospital.
According to Channel News Asia, no deaths or injuries have been reported, although the fire was so severe that columns of smoke could be seen several kilometers from the site.
The flames were precariously close to the National Hospital of Pediatrics, and many patients were wheeled out for their protection after electricity was shut off in the area.
"I have never seen such a big fire, it must have been more than 100 meters high I think," resident Dinh Thi Chung told AFP.
The blaze began in a store on De La Thanh Street at 6pm, and quickly spread to five other nearby stores, many of which sold wooden products, VnExpress reports. By 7:30pm, however, the fire was under control.
A resident who lives in one the affected buildings said she had “lost everything,” while outpatients staying in rented accommodation near the hospital were forced to stay elsewhere after their rooms were damaged by the flames.
Fires of this kind are not uncommon in Vietnam. Earlier this year, 13 people were killed in an apartment fire in Saigon, while in 2016, 13 people lost their lives following a karaoke bar fire in Hanoi.
[Photo via nhadautu]
