Vietnam govt orders apartment block checks after deadly blaze

People pray in front of a make shift shrine set up in front of a building that was caught on fire in Hanoi, Vietnam Thursday, Sept. 14, 2023. A fire broke just before midnight Tuesday in the apartment building that killed scores of people. - AP

HANOI (AFP): Vietnam government has ordered nationwide checks on small apartment buildings after a fire tore through a block in Hanoi, killing 56 people in the country's deadliest blaze in two decades.

The fire started before midnight on Tuesday in the motorbike parking floor of the building, located down a narrow alley in a densely populated area of southwest Hanoi.