HANOI, March 14, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A Vietnamese court jailed eight people on Friday over a fire that tore through a Hanoi apartment block in 2023, killing 56 in the country's deadliest blaze in two decades.

The building had only a single exit and no emergency ladder on the outside and neighbours and residents reported hearing screams as people struggled to escape the flames through barred windows.

The owner of the nine-storey block deserved "the most serious punishment" for the blaze in September 2023, the verdict said, convicting him of violating fire prevention regulations and giving him a 12-year term.

Seven local officials were also handed jail terms, ranging from 30 months to seven years, for "lack of responsibility causing serious consequences" after failing to report the owner's wrongdoing properly.

One of the building's four sides had no windows at all and another had only tiny ventilation slots.

The actions of the block owner Nghiem Quang Minh were "very dangerous", the Hanoi court said in its verdict, "causing especially serious consequences in human lives and material damage".

"Among those dead and injured were several children and people of the same family, causing huge pain," the verdict said.