Fire in locked house kills two teen girls

Two sisters suffocated from smoke in a fire in a house locked by their parents, who had gone to a market on Tuesday morning in Ho Chi Minh City. The victims died later at a hospital.   

The fire broke out at 3:50 am Tuesday morning at a house at 15/12, Road 7, Thanh My Loi Ward, District 7.

Neighbors who noticed the fire forced the house’s doors open and took the girls, Nguyen Thi Kim Huyen, 14, and Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, 10, who were suffering from smoke suffocation, to a hospital.

Phan Van Tuong, who lives next door to the house, said that after discovering the fire, he immediately phoned the girl’s parents to report it and worked with other locals to break down the front door.

When Tuong entered a room, he saw the girls lying on a bed, their bodies covered with black smoke, he said.

When they were found, Huyen was breathing weakly, while Huong had passed out amidst the thick smoke, Tuong said.   

The victims were taken to the District 2 Hospital, but despite intensive emergency treatment, including the use of respirators, they died soon after due to serious smoke suffocation, doctors said.

The parents of the girls, Nguyen Van Y, 44, and Le Thi Chung, 39, had left the house earlier, at about 3 am, to go to a market for business.

After hearing about the fire, Y rushed home only to find out that his two daughters had died. Meanwhile, his wife fainted at the market when she was being told about the heartbreaking incident.

The fire also burned an SH scooter in the house.

Y said he had noticed a burning smell before he and his wife left the house. The couple tried to find the source of the smell, but they didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, so they locked the house and left.

Local police are investigating the cause of the fire.