At least 32 people have died in a fire at a karaoke parlour in south Vietnam.
Workers and customers were trapped by the flames inside the multi-storey venue in Binh Duong province late on Tuesday.
The fire was quickly brought under control but smouldered into the next day, when some parts of the building remained inaccessible.
Rescuers still cannot get inside at least one karaoke room and one storage room because the heat is too intense, the Vietnam News Agency reported.
Some revellers suffered asphyxiation while others broke limps after jumping from upper floors to escape the blaze, reports said.
Firefighters used ladders from their engines to save others.
President Nguyen Xuan Phuc extended his condolences to the victims’ families and asked government officials to support them while quickly finding the fire’s cause.
It appears to have been started by an electrical short circuit on the second or third floor, a preliminary finding revealed.
Enforcement of safety standards at entertainment venues in many parts of south-east Asia is sometimes lax and believed to contribute to multiple fire deaths.
Police in Thailand said a pub in the eastern province of Chonburi was presenting live entertainment without a licence when a fire broke out in early August, trapping many people inside because exits were blocked or locked.
The toll from that fire has climbed to 23 dead, 13 of them on the night of the blaze and 10 in the month since then.
Many had serious burns over most of their bodies, which are extremely difficult to guard against deadly infections.
At least five other victims are believed to still be on ventilators.
