(VOVworld) - Tran Duy Hai, chairman of the Vietnam Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei, said on Saturday that four Vietnamese are trapped in a 16-storey apartment building, which collapsed in a powerful earthquake in southern Taiwan.

Rescue personnel carry a survivor at the site of a collapsed building in the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan following a strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake that struck the island early on February 6, 2016. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Hai told a VOV correspondent in Beijing: “after being informed that there’re some Vietnamese trapped in the collapsed buildings, we’ve contacted with local rescue forces to search the victims. We’ve also sent officers to the scene to work with the Taiwanese side in emergency rescue.”

The Vietnamese Foreign Ministry asked the Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei to work with local relevant agencies to take the Vietnamese citizens out of the building and save their lives.

Two hotlines have been opened at +886988193929 and +886978655358 to timely handle any information relating to the Vietnamese people in distress.