NOTE: This was originally a facebook note, but due to the aftermath, I have decided to share it on here. The note was written Wednesday evening immediately after I got word of what actually went down, so the timeline is a bit screwed up and I have put in clarifications where needed. Here the note is in its entirety;
We all know that I love fireworks, so this story is very special to me.
For those that are unaware, Hanoi is celebrating its 1000 year anniversary this week and there are many events around Hanoi making it almost impossible to get anywhere. The grand finale of the 10 day festival is a massive fireworks display to be spread out over 30 locations throughout the city of Hanoi. One of the places that events are being held (including the largest of the 30 fireworks displays) is My Dinh Stadium. My Dinh (pronounced like “me ding”) Stadium is the largest stadium in the country, at only 40,000 by the way. I currently work in a school across the street from the stadium, which is located inside the national swimming complex. There is literally an Olympic size pool on either side of the school, which is pretty interesting.
Anyway, I was receiving my salary this (Wednesday) morning on the fourth floor of the school, when the whole building started shaking and there was a noise like a cannon was going off. It initially made me think of what a bomb might sound like if it landed close by. The accountants, all of whom were women, started giggling with the glee that only Asian women can pull off and ran out of the office. I naturally followed them, this whole time the building was still shaking and the noise continued.
The word for fireworks in Vietnamese literally translates to “sky flowers” and when we got over to a large window overlooking the stadium all of them began shouting “SKY FLOWERS!!!” and asking me how to actually say it in English.
Except there was a problem; there certainly were some fireworks, but it REALLY didn’t look right. First off they were going off very low, second the noise they were making was much too loud for just regular fireworks, especially since we were a considerable distance away, and finally there was a huge 9-11 style cloud of smoke billowing from the stadium.
My response was “holy shit!” while the accountants were saying things like “oh they look so much prettier at night” One of them asked me if I thought it was exciting, and I said, “ummm it isn’t supposed to look like that, I really hope someone didn’t die”
After receiving my salary I left the aquatics complex and across the very wide street, the entire stadium was sealed off and the giant cloud was still there. However, I quickly forgot the incident as I had to deal with the traffic, which is an adventure all its own every single day. Then this evening George asked me if I had been watching the news and said that 2 shipping containers of fireworks had exploded in My Dinh Stadium killing four people at 11:30am, the same time I was receiving my salary. He sent me the link below, which did not capture the explosion but shows the 9-11 cloud coming out of the stadium. My favorite part of the video is when the guy says “Oi Gioi Oi!” or “Oh my God!”
Video immediately after the initial explosion (this is basically what I witnessed but from a higher vantage point a bit further away)
The actual cause of the blast is not yet known, but my guess is that it was a security guard smoking a cigarette nearby.
It is a good thing I had to get paid today, as the explosion would have taken place right as I was passing the stadium on a normal day. It was pretty crazy to say the least.
Epilogue:
Initially there were no official reports that anyone had died, however it is now official that 4 people did indeed perish in the blast. Considering that three of the victims were foreigners (apparently working for a pyrotechnics company) it was kind of hard to deny everything. Word on the street is that there were many more deaths/injuries, and that it was three shipping containers not two, but all that is obviously unverified. Today (Friday, two days after the tragedy) it was announced that 29 of the 30 sites would no longer have a fireworks display on Sunday, the exception being My Dinh stadium, the very site where this brouhaha occurred. Since I am going on vacation this week, I will be missing the finale, which has obviously been scaled back considerably, but I was one of the few to witness what has quickly become the news story of the week here in Hanoi.
Below are some links to news stories related to the event
The AP’s initial report Note the last sentence “Witnesses say the blast shook buildings and shattered windows.” I wasn’t exaggerating.
Story confirming 2 German citizens were killed
Article confirming the cancellation of the fireworks shows
Tags: fireworks explosion Hanoi, Hanoi 1000 year anniversary, My Dinh Stadium, sky flower, vietnam
