A huge fire engulfed Pou Yuen Company of Tan Tao Industrial Park in Binh Tan District in Ho Chi Minh City at 4am on August 21, causing panic among hundreds of residents in the vicinity.
Giang Thi Cam, on 536 Street No.7, said she heard a loud explosion at first then soon after the fire spread rapidly from the fourth floor of a building to the park area.
Security guards shouted for help and nearby residents rushed to douse the fire with water, but their efforts proved futile. The raging flames soon engulfed the entire fourth floor and spread to the fifth floor.
The City Fire Prevention and Control Department arrived in time and coordinated with and the District's firefighting Police Division to mobilize more than 50 fire engines, ladder trucks and hundreds of firefighters to bring the fire under control.
Local forces including police and residents also joined in to put out the fire and rescue people, but the task faced difficulties due to strong winds.
Colonel Le Tan Buu, Deputy director of the city Fire Prevention and Control Department, was present at the scene to instruct firefighters.
The flames were finally brought under control by 7.20am.
