Death toll in Vietnam's capital explosion rises to 5
Xinhua, March 23, 2016 Adjust font size:
Death toll in an explosion in Vietnam's capital Hanoi last Saturday increased to five, local media reported on Wednesday.
Earlier on Saturday, the explosion took place at Van Phu residential area, Phu La Ward, Ha Dong District of capital Hanoi, killing four people and injured 10 others.
Among the injured, there was a truck driver passing by the explosion site when the incident occurred. The driver, who suffered severe injuries, died Wednesday morning in hospital, Vietnam's state-run news agency VNA quoted sources from the hospital as saying.
A woman who was in the truck at that time is suffering high fever due to injuries, said VNA.
Vietnamese Ministry of Public Security said on Sunday that local authorities have collected pieces of cast iron and steel at the site, which later have been defined as materials used to make bombs.
Moreover, the examination result showed that the explosive substance caused the blast is the type commonly used to make bombs and mines.
According to the Ministry of Public Security, a man named Pham Van Cuong, from Vietnam's northern Nam Dinh province, who has rent an apartment at Van Phu residential area since 2013 for scrap procurement, often used blowtorch to cut the scraps for sale on the sidewalk every afternoon.
On Saturday morning, Coung asked a young neighbor to help carry a rusty metal cylinder with diameter of around 40-45 centimeters and around 80 centimeters in length, weighing over 100 kilograms to the sidewalk in front of the rent apartment where the explosion occurred.
According to a former report from Vietnamese central government's e-portal, on Saturday afternoon, the heat from blowtorch detonated the cylinder, leaving Cuong and three others killed and 10 injured. As many as 95 apartments at the area were affected, among which 36 apartments were heavily damaged. Many vehicles at the area were also affected by the explosion. Endit