I heard a lot of shouts for help. 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.”
Another witness, Huong, said a small child was thrown from a high floor to escape the flames.
“I was about to sleep when I smelled something. I went outside and saw the fire,” she said.
“The smoke was everywhere. There was a little boy thrown from a high floor, I don’t know whether he survived or not although people used a mattress to catch him,” she said.
The deputy prime minister, Tran Luu Quang, visited the scene on Wednesday morning, state media said.
Vietnam has experienced several deadly fires in recent years, frequently at entertainment venues like popular karaoke bars.
A year ago, a blaze in a three-storey karaoke bar in commercial hub Ho Chi Minh City killed 32 people.
As many as 17 people were also injured in that fire, with the owner arrested on charges related to breaching fire prevention regulations.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the prime minister ordered an inspection of all high-risk venues.
Thirteen people died in 2018 after an apartment complex, also in Ho Chin Minh City, caught fire. Another 13 died in 2016 in a karaoke venue in Hanoi following a fire.
Source: CNA
