The mother of victim Bui Thi Loan is escorted from the site of the incident. — VNA/VNS Photo

Fifty firefighters, four fire engines and a number of ambulances were dispatched to the site to intervene.

Police said the only person to survive was a 55-year-old man, Luc Chan Tam, who was sleeping near the front of the house when the fire broke out and managed to escape. He suffered burns from trying to save the others in the fire and has been taken to hospital.

Four adults - including Tam's wife, Bui Thi Loan (born in 1969), their son Luc Kien Oai (born in 1994) and daughter Luc Tuyet Trinh (born in 1996), daughter in law Bui Thuy An (born in 1997), along with two grandchildren of Tam, one seven years old and one just two months old, inside the house were found dead.

Police block the scene to investigate the cause of a fire which killed six people and injured one person in HCM City early Tuesday morning. — VNA/VNS Photo Thanh Chung

Most of the people in the neighbourhood are family members of the deceased.

Many have already donated funds for the family to cover funeral expenses and local authorities also plan to support the victims' families.

Huynh Quang Tam, head of the HCM City Police Fire Prevention and Fighting Division, said five motorbikes were parked inside near the house's front door when the fire broke out so the victims could not escape.

Firefighters were able to control the fire this morning. The cause of the fire has not been determined but sources said the fire might be from a motorbike.

The house where the fire occurred. — VNA/VNS Photo

The house is about 60sq.m, has only one exit and according to neighbours who came to the rescue, this exit was blocked by the parked motorbikes.

An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.  

VNS 

Five family members killed in a major fire in HCM City

Five members of the same family have died after a fire broke out in their HCM City home on Tuesday morning.