Airport firefighter appeared to be unexperienced

VietNamNet Bridge – Firefighters found 12 cooking gas cylinders in a canteen next to the fire and several fire-hydrant in the airport terminal lacking of water, Deputy Director of HCMC Fire Prevention Police, Le Tan Buu said.

The roof of the departure longue after the fire. (Photo: Thai Thien)

“The Police’s firefighters had to remove 12 cylinders of 48 kg cooking gas out of a canteen next to the fire. These would have been removed first to prevent from being exploded”, said the deputy.

When firefighter trucks rushed into the site, there was no guides to locate the fire, according to the deputy.

Deputy Director of Southern Airport Authority, Tran Doan Mau confirmed that the fire was derived from the departure longue of the domestic terminal. It appears that the fire alarm system is only installed on the ground floor of the terminal, and no automatic fire extinguishers existed.

Initially, officials reported that the fire was the result of an electricity fault in the departure lounge.

Vietnam Airlines said until 2 pm. on Monday, 30 flights have departed  from the airport. A number of flights were delayed in the morning, with only some tens of minute behind the schedule.

Jetstar Pacific also said there were no much impacts for their local flights due to the fire, only 5 flights were delayed.

Tran Duy – Thai Thien

Update from: http://english.vietnamnet.vn//social/2008/10/810491/

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