TERRIFIED residents signalled for help with lit mobile phones and crawled on to cranes from their balconies to escape a fire at a large apartment complex in Vietnam.
At least 13 people were killed and 28 injured in the blaze in Ho Chi Minh City, with the number still missing unclear.
The city’s police and fire department rescued more than 100 residents while more than 1000 escaped the fire themselves.
“I did not hear any alarm or fire signals,” resident Nguyen Ngoc Mai said. “Rushing to the balcony, I could not see anything because there was a lot of smoke ... I did not know what to do to save my life. Too panicked, but fortunately I was finally rescued.”
The three buildings with 14 to 20 floors have more than 700 apartments. They were built six years ago in Vietnam’s southern commercial hub, formerly called Saigon.
It was reported most people died of suffocation or jumping from high floors. More than 200 firefighters worked more than an hour to get the fire under control.
The fire started in the basement garage. Doors that separated the garage from the upper floors should have been shut, but they were opened, which allowed the smoke to rise to the upper floors.
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