Hanoi (AP): A fire in a nine-story apartment building in Vietnam's capital killed about 12 people and injured more than 50, state media reported Wednesday.

The fire has been extinguished and rescue operations were continuing, the official Vietnam News Agency reported. Authorities have not confirmed an exact death toll.

The fire was believed to have started late Tuesday and rescuers struggled to reach the building on a narrow lane in south Hanoi. It wasn't immediately clear how much of the building had burned.

It was home to 150 residents, and 54 of the 70 people rescued from the fire were hospitalized for their injuries, state media said.

Authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.

A deadly fire at a karaoke parlor in southern Vietnam's Binh Duong province killed 32 people last year.

Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.



Thiruvananthapuram/New Delhi (PTI): Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal on Thursday accepted the party decision to select V D Satheesan as the chief minister of Kerala and congratulated him.

Speaking to reporters in New Delhi, Venugopal, who was one of the three persons being considered for the post, said he will provide all support to the CM and the UDF government in Kerala.

The decision comes more than 10 days after the results of the April Assembly polls in Kerala were declared.

The Congress-led UDF secured a more than two-thirds majority in the Kerala Assembly elections, but the party has been unable to decide its chief ministerial face due to lobbying by different camps and protests by workers at the ground level.

Besides, Satheesan and Venugopal, senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala was also in the race for the CM post.