The Carina Plaza apartment fire in HCM City on March 23, 2018. A court on Thursday held the developer and building manager jointly liable for compensating victims. — VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — A court in HCM City has ordered the developer and management company of the Carina Plaza apartment complex to jointly compensate victims of a 2018 fire that killed 13 people, concluding a retrial of the civil damages portion of one of Việt Nam's deadliest residential fires.

The HCM City People's Court on Thursday ruled that Hùng Thanh Co., the project’s developer, and Saigon Real Estate Joint Stock Company (SEJCO), which managed and operated the apartment complex, were jointly liable for all damages caused by the fire.

The court ordered the two companies to reimburse more than VNĐ6 billion (US$229,000) to six insurance companies that had compensated victims and to pay more than VNĐ2 billion to several victims.

It said those who had not yet provided sufficient evidence of their losses could pursue separate civil claims.

The court declined to determine how liability should be apportioned between Hùng Thanh and SEJCO, saying requests to establish each company's share of responsibility and settle reimbursement claims between them fell outside the scope of the case.

The fire broke out in the basement of Carina Plaza in the early hours of March 23, 2018, after an electrical spark from a parked motorcycle ignited nearby vehicles.

Investigators found that the building's fire alarm and automatic firefighting systems failed to operate, allowing smoke and flames to spread through the building.

The blaze killed 13 people, injured 72 others and destroyed nearly 500 motorcycles and 81 cars.

Investigators concluded that former Hùng Thanh director Nguyễn Văn Tùng and former Carina management board head Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn knew the building's fire protection system was defective but failed to ensure it was repaired.

In December 2023, the HCM City People’s Court sentenced Tùng to six years and six months in prison and Tuấn to eight years for violating fire protection regulations.

In July 2025, the High People's Court in HCM City reduced Tùng's sentence to five years but overturned the civil compensation portion of the judgment, ordering a retrial after finding that the lower court had not fully addressed the companies' civil liability.— VNS