ĐÀ NẴNG — A fire killed three people in Đà Nẵng City and one man died in an illegal gold mine tunnel in Quảng Nam Province on Wednesday.

The same day, five people were injured in the mountainous district of Nam Giang after a car went off the road and plunged down a ravine.

Chairwoman of the Ngũ Hành Sơn District People’s Committee, Nguyễn Thị Anh Thi, said the fire broke out in a house on Nguyễn Tư Giản Street, 10km from downtown Đà Nẵng, around 3.30am. Two daughters of the house owner and a housemaid perished in the fire.

The dead have been identified as Nguyễn Hiền Hà, 18, and Nguyễn Thị Hòa, 25, two daughters of Nguyễn Văn Bảy, 46, and Nguyễn Thị Thu, 52, a housemaid.

Bảy, his wife Nguyễn Thị Hà and his son Nguyễn Song Toàn escaped to safety.

While firefighters were able to put out the blaze within 30 minutes, they could not save the lives of the three women.

It is suspected that the fire was caused by a short circuit.

Meanwhile, authorities in Phú Ninh District, Quảng Nam Province, confirmed that one man was killed when he and his wife were digging in an illegal gold mine tunnel in Tam Lãnh Commune of the district on Wednesday.

Nguyễn Thế Vinh, chairman of the communal People’s Committee said a sixty-year old man, not named, and his wife were digging for gold in a 10m long tunnel on Wednesday when it suddenly collapsed.

The wife got out of the tunnel by herself, but her husband was buried.

A rescue force got the man out, but he died in the hospital. It was the first tunnel collapse recorded in the area this year.

The commune, which is considered a ‘hotspot’ for illegal gold mining, closed many mines in 2015.

Last year, four people died after inhaling toxic gas in an illegal gold mine in Nam Giang District, Quảng Nam Province.

EVN officials injured

Meanwhile, Nam Giang District officials said five people who were on a business trip to the Sông Bung 2 Hydropower Plant were injured after their car plunged 20m down an incline.

The four-wheel drive Range Rover (plate number 43A-11509) was traveling from Zuôih Commune to the plant slid from the mountain road near the Kaviko Bridge.

Police said the car was carrying a team of officials from the Việt Nam Electricity Group (EVN) on an inspection trip to the hydropower plant. The five are recuperating in a hospital.

The car was completely damaged in the accident. — VNS