HCM CITY — Six people, including three children, were killed and two others were injured in a fire that broke out early this morning in a house in an alley in HCM City’s District 3.

Local authorities said the fire started at 12:10am in Alley 453 off Lê Văn Sỹ Street.

Neighbours said they saw the blaze originate in the ground floor of the two-storey house and spread quickly.

They shouted loud warnings to its occupants and banged on the door.

Four people who rent the first floor managed to jump down before the fire quickly consumed the entire building. Two of them have been hospitalised.  

Six members of a family living in the ground floor could not escape and tragically died.

The adults were identified as Trần Anh Thăng, 47, Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Thuỷ, 37, and Phạm Ngọc Thuý Vy, 36. The children were aged one, five and seven.

Though firefighters arrived quickly and put out the blaze, almost everything inside was burnt down.

Two neighbouring houses were slightly damaged.

The police are investigating the cause of the fire.

There was a coffee shop in the ground floor.

Local authorities visited the injured people and paid for their treatment. They also paid a solatium of VNĐ10 million (US$430) for each dead person.

Another fire broke out at 4am today in Trần Văn Khéo Street Cần Thơ City, but there were no casualties.

The fire began in the ground floor of a building housing a company’s office and a lottery ticket agent. Four members of a family living there did not realise there was a fire for a full hour and only called the fire service later.

Nearly 100 firefighters arrived soon in four fire engines and were able to extinguish the fire in half an hour.

Everything inside was completely damaged, according to local authorities. — VNS