A mother and son were killed after a fire broke out at a clothing store in the southern Vietnamese province of Binh Phuoc on Wednesday.

The inferno started at the shop, located in the Dong Xoai Night Market in the namesake town, around 1:00 am while a married couple and their two children were asleep inside the building.

The blaze quickly became uncontrollable and the family was trapped inside when the rolling door became inoperable due to a power outage brought about by the flames.

Local residents heard the family screaming for help and attempted to break open the door with crowbars to rescue the victims.

Tran The Tam, the 41-year-old father, managed to carry his daughter, three-year-old Tran Thi Kieu Trinh, from the burning house.

Tam’s wife, 34-year-old Tran Thi Thuy and their six-year-old son, Tran The Long, were trapped in the back of the shop and unable to make it out alive.

The clothing shop is destroyed by the flame. Photo: Tuoi Tre 

Over 50 officers and four fire trucks from the provincial Department of Firefighting Police were dispatched to the scene to prevent the flame from spreading to nearby houses.

At initial investigation blamed an overload in the building’s electric power system for the blaze.

The 100 square meter shop is owned by the family and had been used for selling clothes and shoes for several years.

In a similar tragic accident, a flame broke out this week at a two-story residence on Bat Dan Street in Hoan Kiem District, Hanoi, resulting in the death of Dao Thi Lan, a building resident in her 80s.

According to authorities, Lan was on the second floor when flames erupted. 

She was unable to escape and the entire second story of the building was reduced to ashes.

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