After getting his wife, children, and grandchild to safety, Chung couldn't go back in to rescue the other family members, even though he heard their cries for help, because the fire was too intense.

Mr. Chung was unable to return to rescue his relatives because the fire was too intense. Photo: Phuong Son

Having escaped the fire last night, covered in smoke and with tears in his eyes, Nguyen Van Chung recalled the terrifying moments his family had gone through.

Mr. Chung is the eldest of three brothers. He and his wife live with his parents and his younger brother Hieu's family in a three-story house, measuring over 20 square meters. Mr. Chung's father is ill and sleeps and lives on the first floor, Mr. Chung and his wife live on the second floor, and his younger brother's family lives on the third floor.

Mr. Chung didn't know when the fire started because his whole family was fast asleep. Only when he felt the suffocating air and smelled a burning odor did he jump up, open the door to check, and see the fire raging fiercely. Inside the house, it was engulfed in thick black smoke. "I closed the door and kicked the window, breaking the bars to find a way out," the man born in 1978 recounted.

At that moment, Chung's wife, children, and 12-year-old niece woke up and quickly climbed out the window onto the second-floor balcony and slid down the corrugated iron roof to escape. At the same time, Chung heard his mother calling from the rooftop.

"My mother called out 'Hieu!' and asked for help. My younger brother also called the neighborhood leader. After getting my wife, two children, and nephew out, I intended to go back and try to save them, but I couldn't because the fire was too big," Chung recounted sadly.

When the fire broke out, Chung's father was sleeping on the first floor. Although he was lying near the entrance, due to his weak health and the large flames engulfing the three motorbikes, the old man was unable to escape.

Early this morning, after escaping the disaster, Mr. Chung's wife and two children were taken to her parents' home.

Also escaping the fire last night, 12-year-old Duong Thuy Linh, the daughter of Mr. Chung's younger sister, was in a state of panic, clinging tightly to her relatives. Linh was brought to her maternal grandparents' house last night by her mother and slept with her uncle's family on the second floor.

Linh, one of the five victims who escaped safely, was still frightened and crying beside her relatives. Photo: Bá Đô.

"When I heard Uncle Chung call, I jumped up and smelled something burning and saw smoke filling the room. Uncle Chung kicked open the window, broke the bars, and let me crawl through. Once outside, my aunt and I helped my two siblings come down through the corrugated iron roof in front of the door," Linh recounted, her voice choked with emotion.

Once safely downstairs, the 12-year-old girl claimed to have heard her grandmother shouting for help on the rooftop, but the fire was too intense for anyone to rush in and rescue her.

Silently watching the rescue team move the bodies of five unfortunate neighbors onto the ambulance, Mr. Bao, who lives near the scene, recounted that he smelled a burning odor and heard his neighbors' cries in the middle of the night and rushed out to see what was happening. His neighbor's house was engulfed in thick black smoke, with flames covering the first to the third floor. People in the alley shouted for help and tried to put out the fire, but to no avail.

"The fire was too big; we could only stand and watch helplessly, listening to the screams. It was beyond imagination; I can't believe their family had to bear such a great loss," the neighbor said sadly.

According to some residents, one of the reasons not all victims could be rescued was that the house was located at the end of a cul-de-sac, with its back against other houses, so firefighters could only access it from the front door. The house was built quite sturdily, with no escape routes to the upper floors or to neighboring houses.

The victims' families wept as they watched the bodies being brought out one by one. Photo: Phuong Son.

At approximately 7:30 this morning, after rescuing the victims, authorities began examining the scene to investigate the cause of the incident. Observations revealed that three motorbikes and many belongings on the first floor of the house were completely burned. The second and third floors, up to the rooftop, were also blackened by the fire.

According to an investigating officer, the examination will take a long time because all the belongings in the house were destroyed by the fire.

Earlier, a fire that broke out overnight at a three-story house in alley 190, Hoang Mai Street (Hoang Mai District, Hanoi) claimed the lives of five family members: the homeowners, their son and his wife, and their 8-month-old baby.

According to Vnexpress