Fire at 21-storey building in Hanoi, hundreds of people panic

At around 8am on February 12, the electrical technical box on the 4th floor of the CTM Complex building at 139 Cau Giay, Cau Giay district caught fire. Smoke covered the entire floor and poured out through the windows.

Hearing the fire alarm, hundreds of people in the building moved down the stairs to the ground. "When I ran down from the 16th floor, smoke was billowing in the stairs and hallway on the 4th floor. The feeling of chaos in the middle of the fire was so terrible, the smoke was so thick that it felt like I could suffocate," said Ms. Hoang Nhung.

Some people brought fire extinguishers to put out the fire but could not get inside because of the thick smoke. Part of the building was cut off from electricity.

About 10 minutes after the fire broke out, Cau Giay District Police dispatched four fire trucks to the scene, including a ladder truck. When the police arrived, smoke was still coming from the fourth floor. Hundreds of employees stood at the foot of the building watching. Cau Giay Street was congested in the direction towards the center.

Police used stairs to approach the fire area, sprayed water inside, and at the same time organized instructions, bringing nearly 30 people to escape to the roof and follow the stairs to a safe area.

About 30 minutes later, the fire was extinguished. At 9:40, when the smoke had cleared, people were allowed to enter the building.

CTM Complex is a complex of supermarkets, offices and apartments with a scale of 2 basements, 3 commercial service floors and 2 towers, including a 21-storey office tower and a 15-storey apartment tower.