Soldiers from the Fire and Rescue Police Division arrive to organise firefighting, search and rescue. — Photo courtesy of the Hà Nội Public Security

HÀ NỘI — Five people died in a house fire at predawn on Wednesday on Thuỵ Khuê Street, Tây Hồ Ward in Hà Nội.

The municipal police revealed that they received a report about the fire at about 2am.

Witnesses at the scene said that after discovering the fire at about 1.50am, they raised the alarm and used local measures to extinguish it, but could not control the blaze.

Immediately after the report was received, the Municipal Police Command dispatched one fire command vehicle, five firefighting units, and nearly 40 officers and soldiers from the Fire and Rescue Police Division to the scene, in coordination with local authorities, Tây Hồ Ward police and residents to organise firefighting, search and rescue operations.

Chairman of the Hà Nội People’s Committee Vũ Đại Thắng was directly on site, together with Lieutenant General Nguyễn Hồng Ky, deputy director of the Hà Nội Department of Public Security, Colonel Phạm Trung Hiếu, head of the Fire and Rescue Police Division, who directed firefighting, rescue and post-incident recovery operations.

The blaze occurred in a four-storey house with an area of about 60sq.m per floor.

The authorities immediately deployed reconnaissance teams, equipped with breathing apparatus, to access the upper floors to search for victims, while spraying water to prevent the fire from spreading to upper floors and to adjacent houses.

By 2.30am, the fire was largely under control, and was completely extinguished 15 minutes later.

The rescue teams found five victims who had died and handed them over to medical staff.

Chairman Thắng instructed the police to coordinate with relevant departments and local authorities to urgently support the victims’ families, to remedy the consequences of the fire.

At the same time, they should speed investigation to determine the identities of the victims and clarify the cause of the fire. — VNS