Photos from the scene showed the blackened multi-storey building in western Hanoi mostly destroyed by flames, and piles of twisted metal strewn nearby.
Police said they received reports of a fire at 11:00 pm Wednesday (1600 GMT) “with many people trapped inside”.
Rescue workers rushed to the scene and managed to bring out seven people alive, two of whom were rushed to hospital. Eleven others were found dead, they said.
“The police suspect that the cafe was (deliberately) burned down and … have arrested the perpetrator,” Hanoi police said in a statement.
Witnesses said the fire was so large that no one dared to attempt to rescue those trapped inside. The building’s balconies were enclosed with metal bars, likely making escape difficult.
Tran Duc Tuan told AFP that he ran out of his home and saw 5-6 motorbikes burning fiercely, blocking the entrance to the building.
“We saw one flash light from a mobile phone on the balcony of the third floor… that’s when we knew that there were some survivors inside,” he said.
Tuan told how nearby residents desperately attempted to extinguish the fire, pouring water over the flames for more than an hour.
“This was the biggest fire I have ever witnessed… (and) there were no exits at all,” he said.
“Everything I saw was very painful. When (people) were brought down, I saw some signs of life but later, there were just several (dead) bodies.”
Suspected arrested
