Welders may have caused Vietnam fire

Police were investigating whether a group of welders working in a disco may have set off the fire that destroyed a six-storey building in the Vietnamese capital Ho Chi Minh City and killed at least 61 people, officials said today.

The blaze swept through the city’s International Trade Centre on Tuesday afternoon and burned for at least five hours.

The building housed the Blue Disco - the city’s most popular dance spot - along with two floors of shops, a restaurant where about 120 people were attending a wedding reception, and about 50 offices.

Police were investigating whether the acetylene torches used by the welders triggered the fire, city officials said. It was unclear whether the welders survived, officials said. Police were also investigating the possibility of a gas leak, they said.

At least 22 of the dead were staff or agents of the American International Assurance, the building’s largest tenant, a company official said. More than five other staffers remained missing, he said.

“They haven’t returned to work, and we still don’t know what happened to them,” said the official.

The fire was the city’s worst in terms of loss of life and property damage.

The confirmed death toll rose to 61 as one badly injured victim died in the hospital, city officials said.

The toll was expected to rise further with scores of people still in hospital, many with critical injuries, and as rescuers completed their search of the blackened building.

Around 100 agents for American International Assurance were undergoing training in the building when the fire broke out.

Huynh Thi Mat, an agent, said people panicked when the electricity went out and large amounts of smoke poured up the stairs.