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A Taiwanese garment firm will get $18 million in insurance compensation after its factory in southern Vietnam was consumed by a massive fire earlier this year, a local police officer said.
Tran Ngoc Hanh, Can Tho City's police chief, said investigations have found electric short circuit caused the fire that ravaged the garment factory of Kwong Lung – Meko Company in the Mekong Delta city in March.
The incident, the biggest fire in Can Tho's history that caused the most serious property damage in Vietnam in recent years, engulfed the company's main factory, and a major amount of machinery and materials.
The firm's foreign insurer has estimated the damage at $18 million and agreed to pay the compensation, Hanh said.
Fire broke out at the firm's cloth warehouse on the morning of March 23 and quickly spread. Around 500 fire fighters from Can Tho, Ho Chi Minh City and nearby provinces battled the flame but were not able to extinguish it until five days later.
Kwong Lung - Meko has been operating in Can Tho since 1988, producing garments for export with 1,300 workers. Its factory occupies 1.7 hectares (4.2 acres) in the Tra Noc industrial park, about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from the city downtown.
Local officials said the company expects a swift recovery in order to resume business at the same site where the fire took place.
