According to the reports, over 50 persons residing in the building have been injured due to the fire and over 60 were rescued from the fire. 

The authorities are yet to confirm the exact death toll. Meanwhile, 54 of the 70 rescuees have been hospitalised owing to their injuries. 

The fire has been extinguished and the rescue operations are underway, the authorities said adding they struggled to reach the building since it was located in a narrow lane of south Hanoi.

Hanoi apartment building that caught fire was home to 150 residents; the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained but it is belived to have started during the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday.

The apartment fire is reminiscent of last year's Binh Duong karaoke fire bar which killed 32 persons in a karaoke parlour in the southern Vietnam province.