Hanoi, Vietnam

Eleven people died in a fire at a cafe in Hanoi and police have arrested a man suspected of starting the blaze, Vietnam's Ministry of Public Security said on Thursday (December 19).

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Police said in a statement that the man had confessed to using gasoline to light a fire on the ground floor of the three-storey cafe on Wednesday (December 18) after an argument with staff.

Footage from the online newspaper VnExpress showed firemen working to put out the fire and the bodies of victims being removed.

“When I was opening my gate, I noticed a column of smoke from afar. I was so frightened that I had to urge my grandchild to go downstairs," one witness told VnExpress.

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"The flame was so fierce. We saw the fire engulfing, but there was nothing else we could do.”

The state-run Tien Phong newspaper reported the suspect is aged in his early 50s. The police said the fire was first reported to them just after 11 pm (1600 GMT) on Wednesday.

Seven people were rescued from the fire, with two of them hospitalised, the police statement said.

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