Shopping complex fire inflicts tragedy on Vietnamese community in Poland
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Nguyen Van Son struggled to hold back tears as he stood outside the vast burnt carcass of a shopping complex that was engulfed in flames three days earlier in Warsaw.
The 42-year-old Vietnamese trader had his entire livelihood inside — unsold clothing in three shops, equipment in two nail salons and a large sum of cash in his office. All, he presumes, consumed in the fire that broke out before dawn on Sunday and spread fast.
The fire destroyed the Marywilska 44 shopping center, home to some 1,400 shops or services in an industrial area on Warsaw’s northern edge. Hundreds of the businesses there were run by people from Vietnam.
“It all burned, I don’t have money in my pocket,” Nguyen, who moved to Poland from Vietnam 18 years ago, said on Wednesday outside the burnt structure. He estimated his loss at 2 million Polish zlotys ($500,000).