Revealing the cause of the restaurant explosion in Nghe An

Big explosion at BBQ restaurant, shook the whole neighborhood in Vinh

(Baonghean.vn) - The explosion from the restaurant shook the entire neighborhood, all the glass doors and windows of the entire 2-story house exploded, smoke billowed high, and there was a pungent smell.

VIDEO: Rescue of hot pot restaurant explosion in Vinh City

(Baonghean.vn) - Immediately after the explosion, the Nghe An Fire Police and Nghe An Provincial Police arrived at the scene to focus on rescue and relief work. Colonel Nguyen Huu Cau - Director of the Provincial Police Department was directly present at the scene to direct the rescue work.

Scene of the explosion. Photo: Tien Hung

The front of the building has now been covered with a tarpaulin, and many curious people gathered on both sides of the road to watch the authorities investigate. Recalling the moment of the explosion, some people living nearby are still in shock. “It was like a bomb,” said Nguyen Van An (72 years old, Le Mao ward). Mr. An’s house is nearly 200 meters from the scene, but he said that the explosion seemed to wake up his entire family immediately.

“The explosion was low but very loud. Since the war, I have never heard such a terrifying sound,” said Mr. An.

Mr. An’s family immediately opened the door to the scene to investigate. According to Mr. An, the scene before his eyes was “terrifying”. Inside the building, the fire was raging, and gas was covering the entire area. A long stretch of Tran Phu Street was covered with broken glass.

“Inside, the authorities were trying to control the fire, while outside, hundreds of people were watching with panicked faces,” Mr. An recalled. It was around 0:30 a.m. on March 20.

The explosion left many people living nearby shocked. Photo: Pham Bang

According to residents, this building normally has up to 50 employees. However, at the time of the incident, the karaoke restaurant, hot pot restaurant and electronics supermarket were closed. At this time, there was only one security guard in the building.

“So lucky. I must say that there is a silver lining in every misfortune,” said Nguyen Hoang Long (39 years old), who lives across the street from the building. Mr. Long said that at the time of the explosion, the man who worked as a security guard there had just gone out for a late-night snack. That was how he was able to avoid disaster.

Meanwhile, although the glass from the building was scattered hundreds of meters out onto the street, there were no vehicles passing by at this time. In addition, there was usually a woman who sold goods in front of this building, but last night, due to the weather showing signs of rain, she also left early.

Industrial gas cylinders in the restaurant are transported outside. Photo: Tien Hung

Initially, the authorities determined that buildings within a radius of 100 meters were affected by the explosion, including a newly constructed 3-story building whose ceiling collapsed. In addition, some more distant areas were also affected, such as the solid 2-story building of Fire Police Department No. 1 about 200 meters away, which also had its plaster ceiling collapsed....

“Normally, both the hot pot restaurant and karaoke bar are open very late and are often fined by the authorities for staying past their hours. But today, for some reason, they closed early,” said a Fire Police leader who was directly present at the scene. According to this person, if the explosion had happened about an hour earlier, it would have been a disaster, causing great loss of life.

The motorbike shop next door also had broken glass and was severely damaged. Photo: Pham Bang

Authorities also said that the explosion originated from the hot pot restaurant. The fire then spread to the remaining areas. The cause of the fire may have been due to the restaurant staff forgetting to turn off the main valve of the system of 8 industrial gas cylinders connected together to serve the restaurant.