A massive fire engulfed a 34-storey building in Hanoi on March 25, causing hundreds of its occupants to rush out in panic, though so far no casualties have been reported.
Witnesses first saw smoke coming out of an apartment on the 12th floor of the 34-storey apartment building located in the Trung Hoa-Nhan Chinh residential area. Soon an explosion followed the smoke, and fire erupted from the balcony of apartment 1208.
The fire alarm and the loudspeaker system in the apartment building warned all residents, who rushed out of the building.
Soon after receiving news of the fire, the Hanoi fire brigade rushed to the multi-storey building with three fire-fighting vehicles and extinguished the fire within 15 minutes.
Nguyen Minh Vinh, owner of apartment 1208 said there was no one present inside the apartment when the fire broke out, which is being said was caused by a possible electric short circuit from the air-conditioning unit located in the balcony of the apartment.
Earlier in 2010, the same 34 storey building had suffered two other fires.
