2 dead, 12 injured as gas shop explosion destroys houses in Ho Chi Minh City

Résumé détaillé

A gas shop exploded in Ho Chi Minh City on Friday, bringing down several houses, leaving two people dead and 12 others injured.

The shop on Bui Van Ba Street in Tan Thuan Ward in the city's south, blew up at around 10:30 a.m. and caved in. The blast brought down two houses and cracked the walls and broke the tile and corrugated-iron roofs of five others.

The T-shaped gas shop, covering about 100 square meters, collapsed completely, while a fruit shop of about 50-60 square meters next door tilted to one side.

Steel frames and large slabs of concrete cracked and fell on some of the people inside.

One of the dead victims was a 55-year-old employee of the gas shop, found under the debris after nearly seven hours of search.

Aerial view of the damage following a gas shop explosion in HCMC on Nov. 13, 2026. Photo by Minh Hoang

Thanh Tan, who lives near the scene, said the blast was very loud, and after the gas shop came down, two injured people covered in dust crawled out through a gap in the rubble.

The gas shop had operated for nearly 10 years in a row of adjoining shops fronting Bui Van Ba Street, surrounded by eateries. The stalls stood close together, with awnings and tarps stretched to the edge of the road, and multi-story houses were packed in behind the low-rise row.

Hoang Long, who lives one house away from the blast site, said he was indoors when he heard a loud explosion that shook everything around him.

He rushed outside to find part of his house sheared off and collapsed, while the two houses beside it had collapsed completely. His family shouted for help and ran out. No one in the family was hurt, but many of their belongings were damaged.

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