A family of seven was among the dead in the explosion, a report said.
Initial information found local people living in the alley number 384 on Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street in front of Vinh Nghiem Pagoda heard two explosions in five minutes and later discovered three houses were in flames and their walls had already collapsed.
Local residents said the explosions occurred at around 0:15am, Feb 24.
After being informed of the incident, hundreds of firefighters on more than 12 fire trucks came to their rescue.
The blast also caused a shockwave that shook houses within a radius of several hundreds of meters and even broke some windows.
Local woman Nguyen Thi Phuong, who was sleeping in her house at the time of the incident, told Tuoi Tre: “At around 0:00am, my family of four heard a big explosion that shook the whole house. We felt a surge of panic then and later smelt the smoke allegedly coming from fire-crackers. We fled our house to safer areas.”
Nguyen Hoang Phuc from Phu Nhuan, one of first people at the scene, said: “When I was at a coffee shop nearby, I started hearing huge sounds of something exploding.
When I came to the scene, the house numbered 384/9 was engulfed in flames. I and other friends tried to knock on doors of other houses in the area to wake them up but saw nobody.”
A local security guard said many of his co-workers jointly rescued a man from a collapsed house.
As of 5am the same day, rescuers found two bodies of a mother and her daughter under the debris.
As of 8:30am, five more bodies were pulled out of the rubble. Rescuers are still working around the clock in search of survivors.
Victims' bodies pulled out of the scene on Feb 24, 2013.
Ambulances called to the blast scene on Feb 24, 2013.
Rescuers are working around the clock in search of suvivors on Feb 24, 2013.
Rescuers are working around the clock in search of suvivors on Feb 24, 2013.
Flames erupted following the explosions on Feb 24, 2013.
Rescuers broke open doors to come inside the collasped houses in search of survivors on Feb 24, 2013.
Rescuers broke open doors to come inside the collasped houses in search of survivors on Feb 24, 2013.
Rescuers are working around the clock in search of suvivors on Feb 24, 2013.
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