Luxury tenement fire in Vietnam' HCM City kills 13, injures 14

HO CHI MINH CITY, March 23 (Xinhua) -- A fire broke out on Friday morning at a 20-storey high-grade apartment block in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City, killing 13 people and injuring 14, the municipal Fire Police Department said. storey

The fire, which started after midnight at the basement of Carina Plaza building, where cars and motorbikes were parked, and then was put out. But Some people might have still been trapped inside the building by Friday morning, said an official from the department.

Many local residents jumped off the building to escape the fire and a woman lost her life when slipping from the 19th storey, according to witnesses.

During over two hours early on Friday morning, local fire fighters rescued and then brought hundreds of residents out of the building.

A local woman named Le Thi Vang told reporters "My family were sleeping on the second floor then I heard a big explosion. Thick smoke was everywhere. I did not know where to run, so I finally jumped through the window to the ground."

Covering an area of over 19,000 square meters on Vo Van Kiet Street in District 8, Carina Plaza consists of three blocks with 14 to 20 storey, shopping and entertainment centers and over 700 apartments. Enditem