Initial reports showed that at 11pm on September 7, a fire broke out and quickly spread through the house at No9, Rd.10A, Binh Hung Hoa ward. The house contained a lot of inflammable goods.
In response to the incident, the Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) Municipal Fire Police mobilized firefighters of Binh Tan, Binh Chanh Districts and Vinh Lộc Industrial Zone to stamp out the fire.
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At the time of their arrival, the fire spread all over the first floor containing a lot of goods but the firefighters continued to approach the fire from various directions in an effort to control the fire.
While a group of fire fighters were moving into the first floor of the house, the ceiling of the first floor suddenly collapsed, weighing down on them.
Residents and other firefighters quickly moved in and dug up the pile of debris to save the firefighters trapped in. They finally found and took the three trapped firefighters outside. But sadly, Lieutenant Phạm Phi Long, 31, died on the scene while Sergeant Pham Tan Quoc, 24, and Bui Van Dung, 20, were seriously injured and immediately taken to hospital. All three police firefighters are of the Professional Fire Fighting Team of Area 2 of Binh Tan District Fire Division.
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On September 8 morning, the fire was extinguished completely but the entire 500 square meter house burned down.
On September 8, at the house of Lieutenant Phạm Phi Long on Vinh Loc A Road, Binh Chanh, hundreds police officers and soldiers of the HCMC Municipal Fire Police paid respect to Long and attended his funeral.
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Standing next to the coffin, Long’s young wife was wailing. All people present at the funeral were full of pity for the brave police officer as well as his wife, who was standing at the coffin carrying her 2-year-old son and expecting another.
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Colonel Dang Ngoc Nhu, Deputy Head of the Public Security (OK9 Cab) Newspaper’s Southern branch office on behalf of the OK9 Cab Newspaper visited and paid tribute to Lieutenant Phạm Phi Long at his house on September 8 and handed 5 million VND to his family, hoping Long’s family to overcome the difficulty.
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On the same day, a representative of the OK9 Cab Newspaper also visited the two injured soldiers at Cho Ray Hospital and handed to each soldier 3 million VND that had been extracted from the Comradeship Fund of the OK9 Cab Newspaper sponsored by Motorola Solutions Company.
