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A fire tore through a karaoke bar in southern Vietnam killing 12 individuals and leaving 11 wounded, a local official said Wednesday. The blaze overtook the second and third floors of the structure on Tuesday night, trapping guests and staff members as dense smoke filled the stairway, state media claimed. Many crowded onto a balcony to avoid the flames, which escalated swiftly when they caught the timber inside, while some were forced to jump from the building, the sources added.
Photos showed plumes of smoke rising out of the pub — located in a crowded residential zone in Thuan An city, north of commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City — while firefighters on cranes sought to extinguish the fire.
Local officials have confirmed to AFP that 12 people were deceased and 11 injured in the blaze.
“Rescue teams are currently seeking for victims at the scene. The cause of the fire has not been confirmed and is being examined,” Nguyen Thanh Tam, a senior leader with the ruling communist party in Thuan An city, said AFP.
Witness Nguyen Sang, who live nearby the karaoke club, told the VnExpress news site that when fire vehicles arrived at the scene, a receptionist stated there were 40 people stranded inside.
“Many people went away through the entrance gate, but many others could not endure the heat and they leapt down, breaking their arms and legs,” Sang said.
The fire was Vietnam’s biggest since 2018, when 13 people died in a blaze at an apartment complex in Ho Chi Minh City.
In 2016, a blaze in a karaoke bar in Hanoi left 13 people dead, triggering a country-wide assessment of fire prevention procedures at bars and clubs.
Last month, three firefighters died after attempting to extinguish a fire at some other karaoke establishment in the capital city.
