An inferno broke out in the south central Vietnamese beach town of Nha Trang on Tuesday night, destroying nearly 40 homes and the property of local residents.

The fire is reported to have begun at around 10:30 pm in a house on the Nhat Tri Islet in Vinh Phuoc Commune, Nha Trang, before quickly spreading to nearby residences.

According to local resident Nguyen Anh Tuan, the flames sparked at the home of a man named Toan, who fell asleep while cooking animal feed.

Do Thi Kim Lien, 45, whose house was completely destroyed, said that she and her husband spotted the fire and attempted to help their neighbor put it out.

The effort was in vein however as the wind quickly blew the fire out of control. “I could only manage to escape with some clothes,” Lien continued, “Everything was on fire. There is nothing left.”

Firefighting police officers arrived in the area shortly after being notified, but were unable to reach the neighborhood, located in the middle of the sea and only connected with the mainland by one small road.

Some local people used rafts and water pumps to assist the effort, while others helped firefighters slowly put out the flames using buckets of water and fire extinguishers.

Most of the homes were made of wood and steel sheets, which allowed the fire to spread quickly over a large area.

By 2:25 am on Wednesday, the inferno had been contained, with 40 homes destroyed or severely damaged but with no casualties recorded.

Hundreds of residents were forced to stand helplessly by and watch their houses go down in flames.

Nhat Tri Islet is home to 1,400 households and 7,000 residents. People in the neighborhood where the fire began were predominantly poor residents.

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