17 dead in Vietnam shoe factory fire: police

HANOI: Seventeen factory workers were killed and 21seriously injured after they became trapped in a burning Vietnamese shoe workshop that did not have a fire escape, local police said Saturday.

The fire is believed to have been started by welding equipment on Friday afternoon at the unlicensed business in the northern city of Haiphong, the head of the police in An Lao district, Phan Xuan Lai, told AFP. "We arrested six people for investigation straight away," he said.

Ten of the victims were women, including two younger sisters of the Vietnamese woman who owned the workshop with her Chinese husband. "Four of the workers have died this morning in hospital," Lai said.