The beach city of Vung Tau in southern Vietnam was affected by a citywide power outage on Tuesday afternoon, after a fire broke out at a warehouse located right under a major power line.

The warehouse, located on an alley of the 30-4 Street, is leased to a Chinese national to store old fishing nets for recycling.

It was reportedly unoccupied at the time of the incident.

The fire broke out at around 10:00 am on Tuesday, and quickly devoured the entire warehouse, with a giant column of thick smoke and blazing fire visible from kilometers away.

A thick column of smoke arises from the site of fire. Photo: Tuoi Tre

As the site of fire was right under a 220-kilovolt power line, electricity authorities at 12:00 pm were forced to cut the entire city off the grid to prevent any mishaps.

The provincial fire department and firefighters from a local oil company were dispatched to the scene to put the inferno under control.

As the fire was too fierce and occurred near the location of multiple seafood processing establishments and gas stations, as of 1:30 pm efforts to put it out had not yield fruitful results.

The fire occurred right under a high-voltage power line, forcing local authorities to cut the entire city off the grid for safety reasons. Photo: Tuoi Tre

Firefighters spray water at the fire. Photo: Tuoi Tre

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