At least 54 feared dead in Vietnam office fire
At least 54 feared dead in Vietnam office fire
Ben Rowse, Agence France-Presse, Hanoi
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, state media said.
Firefighters struggled for five hours to put out the blaze at the Saigon International Business Center in District One, the heart of the city.
Eyewitnesses described how office workers trapped inside the six-story building had jumped 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 but warned the death toll could rise as many others remained unaccounted for, Vietnam Television (VTV) news said, adding that around 500 people worked in the building.
Six people also died from their injuries in hospital, according to local television reports in Ho Chi Minh City.
A further 59 people have been rushed to hospital, with one third of them in a life-threatening condition. However, no details were available on the nationalities of the victims.
Companies from Australia, Britain, Belgium, Germany, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and the United States have offices in the center.
U.S. giant American International Assurance (AIA) is also based on the second floor of the building.
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."
A local reporter for a state-run newspaper said more than 100 people were attending a wedding in the building, which also houses the Blue discotheque on the second floor.
Nguyen Thi Ngoc Ha, who was attending a training course organized by AIA on the fifth floor, told AFP from her hospital bed at the District One Emergency Center 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.
Tom Carmichael, a spokesman for the U.S. 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.