A fire broke out at Tam Bac Market in the northern port city of Hai Phong on Sunday morning.
After starting on the first floor, the fire quickly spread to the second floor.
Because the goods in the market were mainly fabrics, clothes, shoes, and votive paper, the fire had all the fuel it needed to become almost unstoppably fierce almost unbelievably quickly.
Firefighters used dozens of high-pressure cannons fueled by water from Tam Bac Lake to spray the market from all four sides.
Vendors said they have lost a significant volume of new goods they had just bought to start the Lunar New Year.
They estimated that the fire might have caused damages worth hundreds of billions of dong (VND1 billion equals US$42,426)
Vendor Nguyen Lan Phuong, 55, cries after losing batches of clothes that cost her VND800 million.
She said vendors have repeatedly reported to the market’s management board that kiosks had been experiencing short circuits recently, but no one did anything.
Vendor Le Hong Diep, 61, searches for any clothes that are still intact.
After more than three decades selling goods at Tam Bac, Diep said she’d never seen the market experience a disaster as devastating as this one.
Goods saved from the fire.
Tam Bac was built 38 years ago and was renovated in 2002. Since then, it has remained untouched.
After four hours, the fire was contained and brought under control by 10 a.m.
Police are investigating the cause of the fire.
