Head of the Carina Plaza Building management board, Nguyen Quoc Tuan, has just been arrested and prosecuted for violating fire regulations.

A deadly fire breaks out at Carina Plaza Building in HCM City in March

Tuan, 33, was detained on Wednesday evening following police investigations into the deadly blaze in this residential complex which killed 13 people.

According to a report from the investigation team, the fire safety system failed to work properly when the fire occurred at 1 am on March 23.

Tuan knew the situation but did not take necessary measures to fix the equipment," the report said. "The board also failed to give instructions on fire safety to residents, which resulted in serious consequences."

In April, police also arrested the building's investor, Nguyen Van Tung, who is director of the Hung Thanh Ltd Company.

Carina Plaza Building situates on a 19,000-square-metre area on Vo Van Kiet Street in District 8. The building has three blocks of between 14-2- floors which house retail outlets, entertainment areas and over 700 apartments.

On March 23, a blaze, which was caused by a motorcycle in the parking area of the Carina building, broke out and killed 13 people, with 11 of them dying of smoke inhalation and two jumping out of windows or balconies.

Some 90 more people were injured and had to be hospitalised. The fire also destroyed 340 motorbikes and 17 cars.

So far, Hung Thanh Company has paid some 70 billion (USD3 million) on repair and compensation.

Dtinews