No Vietnamese are among 16 people killed in a fire breaking out at a trade center in the Republic of Tatarstan, which is a federal subject of Russia, on Wednesday, according to the head of the Vietnamese community in the city.

Russian media said that 16 people have been found dead in the fire erupting at the Admiral trade center in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, which is located in Volga Federal District, adding that about 50 others were injured.

Nineteen missing people are believed to be under the rubble of the center where there are many Vietnamese trading goods.

No Vietnamese have been reported dead or missing in that accident, Dam Danh Lam, president of the Vietnamese Association in Kazan, told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper on Saturday.

Lam elaborated that his association has not received any report on missing or dead Vietnamese from the community in Kazan.

The fire broke out in a café on the first floor of the trade center on March 11 and spread to an area of 4,000 square meters, causing some constructions to collapse, according to newswire tass.ru.

Rescuers evacuated 650 people from the building, and more than 50 people were injured, tass.ru reported.

It is expected that police and rescue workers will clean up the wreckage in the next few days to find the missing victims, Lam said.

Currently a number of areas in the center are still engulfed in smoke.

The Vietnamese traders who lost their properties in the fire have regained their calm and returned to normal life, Lam said, adding some traders have begun washing the goods recovered from the blaze.

There have been no official statistics on the damages but Lam said each booth owned by Vietnamese there is valued at US$5,000 to $100,000.

The Vietnamese Association and the Embassy of Vietnam in Russia have contacted the Novaya Tura commercial center, the largest in Kazan, for support for the Vietnamese traders affected by the fire, he said.

The management board of the center has agreed to let the Vietnamese traders leave their goods in their warehouse temporarily and create conditions for them to trade there, Lam added.

According to Lam, from now until the end of May, the management of the Novaya Tura trade center will not collect rental fees for the kiosks there but utility and security costs will have to be covered by the Vietnamese. Lam said the Vietnamese traders are facing many difficulties in borrowing money to continue trading because they are not Russian nationals who can receive support from the Russian government.

Among the number of Vietnamese traders whose goods were damaged by the flames, only 10 percent are Russian nationals, while the rest are temporary and long-term residents, he added.

The president said if they can access bank loans, high interest rates, from 15 to 20 percent, and complex procedures will be an obstacle.

Thus the Vietnamese victims often borrow from their relatives or the Vietnamese community.

One wholesaler selling goods for Vietnamese traders has agreed to defer payments for the affected, Lam said.

The Vietnamese Association and the Embassy of Vietnam have set up a support fund but the amount is not much, mainly used for hard-hit traders only, he added.

Like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get the latest news about Vietnam!