At least 13 people were killed on Friday in an apartment block blaze in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam state media and a fire department official said. "Most of the victims died from smoke inhalation, but we also found people who had died jumping from high windows," the official said. "The injured are in stable condition now and we are still searching the block to make sure no one is still trapped in there." The blaze at Carina Plaza on Vo Van Kiet Street in the city also left 27 others injured, he said. The fire began at around 1:00 a.m. (1800 GMT Thursday) at the basement of the block and quickly spread to engulf the building, trapping hundreds of residents, according to the fire official. The fire started in the basement garage, with state media saying doors that separated the garage from the upper floors should have been shut, but they were opened, which allowed the smoke to rise to the upper floors. More than 30 fire engines and 200 firefighters were at the site and the fire was extinguished after an hour, the fire official said. The official Vietnam News Agency reported on Friday that the six-year-old block was made up of 736 separate apartments. They were built six years ago in Vietnams southern commercial hub, formerly called Saigon. State media quoted the citys police and fire department as saying police rescued more than 100 residents while more than 1,000 escaped the fire themselves. "I did not hear any alarm or fire signals," Tuoi Tre newspaper quoted resident Nguyen Ngoc Mai as saying. "Rushing to the balcony, I could not see anything because there was a lot of smoke... I did not know what to do to save my life. Too panicked, but fortunately I was finally rescued." "We were awakened by loud noise. We ran out of the apartment but there was a lot of smoke. We only had enough time to grab the mobile phone, wet some towels to cover ourselves and ran out," online newspaper VnExpress quoted an unnamed male resident as saying. Tuoi Tre quoted Ho Chi Minh City Mayor Nguyen Thanh Phong as saying he was told by residents that the fire alarm system did not work and residents alerted others to the fire themselves. The paper also quoted Senior Lieut. Col. Nguyen Thanh Huong, the citys chief fire officer, as saying previous government regulations allowed fire safety inspections four times a year, but current regulations only allow one inspection a year. It was intended to reduce disturbing residents and businesses, but he said firefighters do not feel safe with the new regulations. Huong also said there were cases, particularly in cheap condominiums, where inferior alarm systems falsely went off and residents switched it off. Maj. Gen. Phan Anh Minh, the citys deputy police chief, told state media that the fire could have started from a motorbikes electrical system but the possibility of explosions has not been ruled out. In 2002, a fire at a trade center in downtown Ho Chi Minh City killed 60 people in one of Vietnams worst fires.