Around 4:30 a.m. on 16/9, two loud explosions rocked Thuong Tin commune. Flames quickly engulfed a 5-meter-high, 100-square-meter metal workshop belonging to 28-year-old Vu Doanh Nghia. The workshop, specializing in the production of iron, stainless steel, and aluminum doors, railings, and staircases, was located in Van Giap hamlet, about 200 meters from Highway 1.

The makeshift structure, clad in sheet metal, housed production materials in about two-thirds of its space. The remaining area consisted of a mezzanine sleeping area accessible by a metal ladder, with a kitchen and bathroom below. Nghia had lived and worked in the workshop for years.

At the time of the fire, Nghia, his wife, and their two daughters, aged 6 months and 5 years, were in the mezzanine. The workshop was locked from the inside.

The burned-out workshop. Photo: Viet An

Across the street, Nguyen Van Hai, 68, a security guard at a nearby college, heard the explosions and smelled smoke. He quickly spotted the smoke and flames billowing from Nghia’s workshop. Hai ran 60 meters to the building, shouting "Nghia!" repeatedly. "Knowing Nghia was deaf in one ear, I yelled as loud as I could, but there was no response," Hai said.

According to Hai, the fire initially seemed small, but intensified as it spread through the workshop, erupting through the windows. The sound of burning metal was deafening. Students renting rooms nearby fled.

Nguyen Thi Tuoi recounts the desperate phone call from her daughter-in-law. Photo: Viet An

Around 4:45 a.m., Nghia's mother, 50-year-old Nguyen Thi Tuoi, received a panicked call from her daughter-in-law while she was in Phu Tho province: "Mom, help me, our house is on fire!" Tuoi urged her to take the children and jump out the window, but the call abruptly ended. Tuoi tried calling back, but the line was dead.

Unable to reach her son’s family, Tuoi contacted her own mother, 73-year-old Nguyen Thi Bong, who lived about two kilometers from the workshop in Thuong Tin commune. Bong rushed to the scene, but by the time she arrived, the workshop was fully ablaze.

Within 15 minutes of the fire starting, seven fire trucks and nearly 50 firefighters from Fire and Rescue Teams 5, 31, and 32 arrived. Firefighters forced open the front door, battling the flames while searching for survivors.

"Four fire trucks quickly ran out of water, so I opened the school gates so they could use water from our reservoir," Hai recounted.

By 5:30 a.m., the fire was extinguished, but the workshop’s roof and walls were warped and destroyed. Inside, the remains of motorcycles, a refrigerator, and a fan were among the charred debris. Tragically, the bodies of all four family members were recovered from the mezzanine shortly after 5 a.m.

Local authorities confirmed that Nghia had built the workshop on agricultural land about 10 years prior, after completing his military service. He primarily worked alone in the workshop, rarely employing assistants.

The woman who died in the fire was Nghia’s fiancee. The 6-month-old baby was their child, and the 5-year-old was the woman’s child from a previous relationship. "Nghia had planned to marry in August (lunar calendar), but tragedy struck before they could," his grandmother shared.

Following the fire, the chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee directed relevant agencies to investigate the cause and provide support to the victims' families. The Department of Agriculture and Environment, in coordination with the Department of Construction, was tasked with inspecting and urging communes and wards to address unauthorized temporary structures and buildings on agricultural land, project land, forest protection corridors, and dikes.

Viet An