Khuong Ha apartment fire kills 56 people: Homeowner officially sentenced to 12 years in prison

On the morning of March 14, the Hanoi People's Court of First Instance sentenced 8 defendants in the mini apartment fire on Khuong Ha Street, Khuong Dinh Ward, Thanh Xuan District that killed 56 people and injured 44 people in September 2023.

According to information in Dan Tri newspaper, the first instance jury assessed that the crime committed by Nghiem Quang Minh (residing in Cau Giay district, Hanoi - owner of a mini apartment building on Khuong Ha street) was particularly serious, posing a danger to society; violating fire prevention and fighting order and the life, health and property of agencies, organizations, individuals and the community.

"Nghiem Quang Minh's criminal acts caused extremely serious human and economic damage. In particular, in the fire, many people died or were injured, including children, and many families lost their entire homes, causing immense loss and pain," the panel of judges assessed.

Although defendant Minh has many mitigating circumstances, the panel of judges considers it necessary to apply the most severe penalty to have sufficient deterrence and education.

Regarding the defendants who worked at the People's Committee of Khuong Dinh Ward, Thanh Xuan District, when the incident occurred, the defendants were active in rescue work, called for support for the victims of the fire, and coordinated with the investigation agency in solving the case.

In particular, defendant Nguyen Dinh Quan (former Head of the Construction Inspection Team of the People's Committee of Khuong Dinh Ward, Thanh Xuan District) is the person who bears the highest responsibility for his lack of responsibility, failure to supervise and inspect violations in the area for thorough handling.

From the above analysis, the first instance court sentenced defendant Nghiem Quang Minh to 12 years in prison for violating regulations on fire prevention and fighting.

For the crime of Lack of responsibility causing serious consequences, the first instance court sentenced defendant Nguyen Dinh Quan (former Head of the Construction Inspection Team of Khuong Dinh Ward People's Committee) to 7 years in prison; Chu Xuan Son (former Vice Chairman of Khuong Dinh Ward People's Committee) to 6 years in prison; Nguyen Thi Kim Trang (former construction cadastral officer of Khuong Dinh Ward People's Committee) to 30 months in prison.

Pham Thanh Tung (former officer in charge of the urban environment sector of Khuong Dinh ward) 30 months; Tran Trong Khang (former Captain of the Construction Inspection Team of Thanh Xuan District People's Committee) 3 years in prison.

Pham Tan Anh (former Vice Chairman of Khuong Dinh Ward People's Committee) was sentenced to 4 years in prison; Nguyen Tuan Anh (former Deputy Chief of Khuong Dinh Ward Police) was sentenced to 4 years in prison. The panel of judges ordered defendant Nghiem Quang Minh to compensate the victims more than 23 billion VND.

The first instance judgment shows that Nghiem Quang Minh is the owner of the 240m2 land plot at No. 37, Alley 29/70, Khuong Ha Street, Thanh Xuan District.

On March 11, 2015, Minh was granted a construction permit by the People's Committee of Thanh Xuan District to build a single-family house on the above plot of land, with a construction density of 70%, a total floor area of over 1,100 square meters, including 6 floors, a mezzanine and an elevator shaft.

However, the defendant then built 100% of the land area and built 9 more floors, adding 12 rooms. This construction was not designed, approved, accepted, or managed by Minh in terms of fire prevention and fighting according to regulations.

Discovering the violations, the functional units requested the defendant to stop the construction and at the same time report to the Ward People's Committee and the Thanh Xuan District Construction Inspection Team. After receiving the enforcement decision, within the assigned duties and responsibilities, Mr. Chu Xuan Son did not know that Quan, Trang and Pham Thanh Tung (contracted staff in charge of the urban environment sector) had drawn up a record and signed a confirmation that Minh would dismantle the illegal construction work himself.

After making the report, Minh demolished it himself; Quan, Trang, and Tung did not report on the continued handling of Minh's illegal construction. The People's Procuracy accused Quan, Trang, Tung, and Son of being irresponsible in management, leading to abandoning the illegal construction, allowing Minh to continue building from the 7th floor to the 9th floor without being inspected or handled by any agency or unit of the People's Committee of Khuong Dinh Ward and the People's Committee of Thanh Xuan District.

Dr. Hoang Thanh Du 'Underground storm' lamentably recounts the tragedy of an apartment fire, haunting the scene of casualties Phúc Sen14:03:50 14/09/2023Artist Hoang Thanh Du choked up when recalling the tragedy on the night of the mini apartment fire in Hanoi. As a witness to the whole incident, he said he was extremely haunted, torn by the call for help.