Smoke rises from a building in Hanoi, Vietnam, Sept 13, 2023. Authorities said "many" people had been killed after a fire broke out in the apartment block. (PHOTO / AP)

HANOI - As of Wednesday early morning, 54 people were hospitalized, including dozens of fatalities, after a fire hit a mini apartment block in Vietnam's Hanoi capital before Tuesday midnight.

According to preliminary statistics, as of 5am local time Wednesday, relevant authorities had rescued some 70 people and sent 54 others to hospital, and dozens of the fire's victims had died, Vietnam News Agency reported.

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The fire broke out first at the first story of the nine-story apartment block with a floor area of over 200 square meters, where some 150 people live, in Khuong Dinh ward, Thanh Xuan district.

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In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam saw 1,286 fires and explosions which killed 69 people, injured 64 others, and caused property losses of nearly 200.7 billion Vietnamese dong ($8.3 million), the country's General Statistics Office said.