Former building manager sentenced to prison for negligence in deadly fire

Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn (left), former head of the Management Board of the Carina apartment in HCM City, and Nguyễn Văn Tùng, former director of Hùng Thanh Company, the apartment building’s developer, at the HCM City People’s Court on Friday. VNA/VNS Photo

HCM CITY — The HCM City People’s Court on Friday sentenced Nguyễn Quốc Tuấn, former head of the Management Board of the Carina apartment in HCM City, to eight years in prison for violations of fire prevention and fire fighting that caused a deadly fire that resulted in 13 deaths and 72 injuries.

The court also sentenced Nguyễn Văn Tùng, former director of Hùng Thanh Company, the apartment building’s developer, to six years and six months in prison for the same crime.

According to the court, Tuấn, the former head of the Management Board, played a primary role in the deadly fire, and therefore should bear higher responsibility than the building’s developer.

The judges found that Tùng and Tuấn had been assigned the duty to ensure the safety of the apartment building. However, when they discovered that the building’s fire protection and prevention system was not working, they did not promptly replace or fix it. 

In addition, Tùng allowed another building management unit to borrow a pressure pump, leaving the Carina apartment building without a pump to control the fire when it broke out.

The cause of the fire was determined to be a malfunction in the electrical system of a vehicle, according to the police investigation. 

The fire started at midnight on March 23, 2018, from a scooter in the building’s basement parking lot and spread for over 13 minutes without any alert as residents were asleep. 

The fire quickly spread, resulting in the deaths and significant property damage.

The developer of the apartment complex has compensated victims of the fire with over VNĐ108 billion. 

The court concluded that Tùng was aware of the non-functioning fire alarm and fire fighting system but did not request for it to be repaired or replaced, while Tuấn, as the head of the building’s management board, did not fulfill his responsibilities in managing the safety systems.

The court also stated that for some absent victims, or those present but with insufficient evidence for compensation, their cases would be separated into civil lawsuits.

The trial resumed on Thursday after an eight-month delay. — VNS