Three children killed in Vietnam house blaze

A house fire in Hanoi has killed three children and a woman, police said Monday, the latest fatal blaze to hit the Vietnamese capital.

The fire ripped through the six-storey building late on Sunday, with three adults escaping by jumping onto the roofs of nearby buildings.

More than 100 rescuers and 12 fire trucks were dispatched to bring the blaze under control.

Police found the bodies of the 53-year-old woman and three children, aged between two and 11, when the fire had been extinguished.

The bottom three floors of the building were used as a shop and storage area for paint and construction materials, while the outside was covered with advertising boards.

The tragedy comes less than a month after 14 people perished in an apartment block fire in Hanoi, and less than a year after another apartment block blaze there killed 56.

Vietnam’s communist authorities have sought to improve fire safety after years of regulations being ignored, particularly in densely populated urban areas.

Separately, another similar fire on Sunday in Bac Giang city, 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of Hanoi, killed three people.