HCM CITY — Two people have gone on trial in HCM City in connection with a deadly apartment fire five years ago that killed 13 people.

Nguyễn Văn Tùng, 46, former director of Hùng Thanh Company, the main developer, and Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn, 38, former head of the apartment management, are charged with “violating regulations on fire prevention and fighting,” which carries a jail term of up 12 years.

The fire started in the early morning on March 23, 2018, from a scooter in the building’s basement parking lot. It spread for over 15 minutes without any alerts when the residents were still asleep.

The alarms did not work and the automatic sprinkler systems in the building failed to deploy. Emergency warning lights also never worked.

All fire doors in the building were opened, allowing fire smoke to go to apartments, causing most of the deaths, investigators said.

“The fire could have been put out with an extinguisher if there had been someone on guard at that time,” according to the police.

The blaze also injured 72 people and destroyed nearly 500 motorbikes, 80 cars and bicycles, causing property damage of more than VNĐ126 billion.

The families of the 13 victims have already been compensated by Hùng Thanh Company, and they said they would not be seeking any more.

The company has paid compensation of more than VNĐ119 billion in total to most of the vehicles’ owners.

In other cases, it has yet to reach an agreement with the owners of 11 cars and three motorbikes. The company proposed it is settled in court.

Hùng Thanh Company has proposed Sejco Company, the management company of the apartment building, have joint responsibility to compensate for the damage.

It has taken five years to bring the case to court because there are many “legal issues”, according to prosecutors.

Located at 1648 Võ Văn Kiệt Street, Carina Plaza complex includes three buildings of 15-21 storeys each and a total of 736 apartments.

The complex opened in 2011 and was operated and managed by Hùng Thanh Company as the main developer. In 2016, Hùng Thanh hired Sejco Company to operate and manage the building.

The trial at HCM City’s People’s Court is expected to last until April 10. — VNS