Dozens killed, 70 rescued from residential building on fire in Vietnam

Dozens of people have been killed after a huge fire at an apartment block in Vietnamese capital Hanoi, state media said Wednesday.

The fire started just before midnight on Tuesday (5pm GMT) in the parking floor of the 10-storey building, witnesses said, an area packed with residents' motorbikes.

"Authorities have rescued about 70 people, rushing to hospital 54 people, including dozens of dead," the official Vietnam News Agency said.

"This is a very serious fire," the statement said.

The blaze was out on Wednesday morning, although workers continued searching for survivors. Rescuers struggled to access the building, in a highly residential area of southwest Hanoi, located down a narrow alley.

"We could not help them much," a woman, who gave only one name Hoa and lives near the block, told AFP at the site.

"The apartment is so closed with no escape route, impossible for the victims to get out."

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