At 4.00pm yesterday, a fire broke out in a house located in a small alley on Nguyen Tat Thanh in Thanh Khe District’s Thanh Khe Dong Ward.  One elderly man, 76-year-old Tran Van Oi, died in the fire.

Mr Oi and his wife were on the ground floor of their house having a meal when they heard a series of small explosions from the floor above, accompanied by a large volume of black smoke.  The old man decided to go upstairs to try to control the blaze but the fire quickly took hold because of the presence of many flammable items.  Mr Oi locked himself in the bathroom to avoid the fire, but he soon died of asphyxiation.

Mr Oi’s house (Photo: vnexpress.net)

After the fire was reported by local residents, the city’s Department of Fire Fighting and Prevention quickly sent 4 fire engines and dozens of firefighters to the scene to prevent the blaze from spreading to the nearby houses. 

Thanks to the great efforts of the firefighters, the blaze was completely extinguished.  It is thought that an electrical short circuit caused the fire.