HANOI, Oct 29: At least 54 people died and scores were missing after a huge fire swept through an office block heavily populated by foreign companies in Vietnam’s southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City on Tuesday.
Firefighters struggled for five hours to put out the blaze at the Saigon International Business Centre in District One, the heart of the city.
Eyewitnesses described how office workers trapped inside the six-storey building were killed after jumping from windows to escape the inferno in Vietnam’s vibrant business and investment capital.
Local residents said the fire was caused by an electrical fault, but city mayor Le Thanh Hai said the reason for the blaze was not yet known.
Nguyen Van Niem, a foreign ministry official in Ho Chi Minh City, said “no evidence has been found that this was related to terrorism”.
Emergency services have recovered 48 bodies so far, according to Vietnam Television (VTV) news, but Nguyen Thanh Tai, vice chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee, said the “final toll could be very high”.
All the bodies have been taken to military hospital No 175 for identification, he added.
Six people also died from their injuries in hospital, according to local news reports in Ho Chi Minh City.
VTV said around 500 people worked in the building, which also housed many shops, and the popular Blue discotheque on the second floor.
A local reporter for a state-run newspaper said more than 100 people were attending a wedding in the building.
A further 59 people have been rushed to hospital, with one third of them in a life-threatening condition, officials said. Others were treated at the scene for shock and minor injuries.
Companies from Australia, Britain, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States have offices in the centre.
US giant American International Assurance (AIA) is also based on the second floor of the building.
The foreign ministry’s Niem said the bodies of those recovered were so disfigured that it was still impossible to say if any foreign nationals had died in the blaze.
“We cannot say if any foreigners were victims because the bodies were so badly burnt. It will take time to identify them.”
However, rescue personnel said they had discovered a large corpse among the charred wreckage of the building which they said could be that of a foreigner.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, who was attending a training course organised by AIA on the fifth floor, told AFP from her hospital bed at the District One Emergency Centre that she had escaped by climbing down a drain pipe.
“As soon as we smelt the fire everyone started panicking and tried to rush out of the room. People were pushing and getting crushed so I went to a window and climbed down.”
Ha said more than 140 people were in the class but said she was unsure of their fate or that of an American man running the course.
Another AIA employee, who gave her name as Tang Nhung, said six staff members, and many others, were missing.
Tom Carmichael, a spokesman for the US embassy in Hanoi, said consular officials were working with local authorities in Ho Chi Minh City to determine if any Americans had been caught up in the fire.
In Sydney, a foreign ministry spokeswoman said initial investigations indicated that no Australian nationals had been killed or injured.
The British embassy in Hanoi also said it had not received any reports of British nationals being killed or injured.
The fire began around 1.45pm (0645 GMT) and rapidly spread out of control, according to firefighters.
Some 20 fire trucks, including a handful from Tan Son Nhat International Airport, rushed to the scene, which was immediately cordoned off.
However, state television said firefighters struggled to contain the fire because of inadequate equipment and water shortages. It was only brought under control after five hours.
“Fighting the fire was very difficult. Many people were trapped inside,” said Le Tan Vu, head of the city’s firefighting force.
Eyewitnesses described scenes of people desperately trying to flee the burning building.
“I heard lots of screaming and shouting from inside the centre. I saw lots of people jumping from the windows. It was a bloody scene,” said Tran Trung Dung, an employee of Saigon Tourist.
Ho Chi Minh City, formerly known as Saigon, is home to a large expatriate business community. Last month the US consulate in the city closed during the first anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Its embassy in the capital Hanoi remained shut for nearly two weeks, also as a result of intelligence reports that American interests in Southeast Asia could be the target of attacks by al-Qaeda militants.
