This photograph taken on September 6, 2022 and posted by the Vietnam News Agency on September 7 depicts firefighters at the scene of a fatal karaoke bar fire in Binh Duong province, north of Ho Chi Minh City. Photograph: STR/Vietnam News Agency/AFP/Getty
Hanoi — An official announced Wednesday that the death toll from a fire that ripped through a karaoke bar in southern Vietnam has grown to 23. Tuesday night, a fire overtook the second story of the business, trapping customers and employees as dense smoke filled the stairway and barred the emergency exit, according to sources.
Others were forced to jump from the structure, according to state-run media, as the flames soon increased as they spread through the wooden inside of the bar.
Photos showed smoke pouring from the pub, which was located in a dense residential zone in Thuan An city, Binh Duong province, north of the commercial capital Ho Chi Minh City. Firefighters on ladders were attempting to extinguish the incident.
Mai Hung Dung, a prominent official of the ruling Communist Party in Binh Duong, told AFP, “We are still searching for more casualties, but the dead toll stands at 23 and 11 people have been injured.” Authorities had earlier estimated 12 fatalities.
State media said that eight bodies were discovered in the restroom of the bar.
The victims of a fire that ripped through a karaoke club are treated in a hospital on September 7, 2022, in the southern Vietnamese city of Thuan An. Duong Tri Tuong/AP
According to a report given by state media, the initial cause of the fire was a short circuit, as reported by authorities in Binh Duong and cited by state media.
Nguyen Sang, a witness who lives next to the karaoke club, told the news website VnExpress that when fire vehicles got on the scene, a receptionist reported that there were forty people trapped inside.
“Many people fled through the main entrance, but others could not withstand the heat and leapt to their deaths, breaking their hands and legs,” Sang explained.
According to official media, rescue personnel searched the 30-room pub throughout the night for anyone who may have been trapped inside. In addition, police stated that the karaoke establishment’s fire prevention standards had been reviewed previous to the fire.
Following a fire that broke out inside a karaoke bar in Thuan An, southern Vietnam, on September 7, 2022, fire trucks are seen parked outside the establishment. Duong Tri Tuong/AP
In what was previously the deadliest fire in Vietnam, thirteen people perished in a Ho Chi Minh City apartment complex fire in 2018.
In 2016, a fire in a karaoke bar in the Vietnamese city of Hanoi claimed the lives of thirteen people, triggering a nationwide review of fire prevention measures in bars and clubs.
Wednesday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh ordered further inspections of high-risk venues, including karaoke bars.
Three firefighters perished in Hanoi last month while attempting to quell a fire at another karaoke bar.