Vietnam fireworks factory blast kills 21
Print Edition
At least 21 people were killed and almost 100 injured in explosions at a fireworks factory in a military complex in northern Vietnam, an army official said yesterday.
Plumes of black smoke billowed from the Z121 military facility, around 120 kilometers north of Hanoi, as fireworks exploded for several hours.
“Twenty-one people are dead and 98 injured — most have sustained burns,” a military rescue official said by telephone.
The blast death toll had earlier been put at seven.
Local hospitals received many victims, some with horrific burns. The most critical cases were moved to a specialist burns center on the outskirts of Hanoi.
“I couldn’t recognize my daughter, she was burned from her face to the soles of her feet,” one woman told state media. “She was pregnant, she couldn’t escape the explosion quick enough.”
Images posted on Vietnamese blogs showed charred frames of motorcycles, and houses with their roofs ripped off.
Some 2,000 local residents were evacuated.
“The fire has now been brought under control,” a police official in Phu Tho Province said, adding that an investigation had been opened.
“The first blast was at 7:55am — and then there were continuous explosions for some hours,” Phi Xuan Trung, chairman of the local Khai Xuan commune, told the VNExpress news site.
“There was a strong smell of gunpowder, the ground was shaking many kilometers away,” he added.
Residents in Thanh Ba District, where the complex is located, said they felt the ground shake. “My house was shaking and the door smashed open,” eye witness Nguyen Nhu Quynh told VNExpress.
Loudspeakers urged people within 15 kilometers of the military facility to leave.
“We have received warnings from authorities that there could be further explosions which could be very destructive,” said one resident.
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