A fire broke out in popular shopping mall- Al Wahda Mall
in Abu Dhabi city in the early morning around 12:30am, which is now reportedly under control with fire fighters
and police officials on the scene.
A staff member at a shop in the mall said the fire
erupted from a textile shop around 12:30am. Some clothes were burned but the civil defense
reached the spot and doused the fire immediately.
A spokesman of the mall management told that the fire
erupted inside the mall late on Tuesday night
but it was extinguished quickly. There were no reports of injuries or major
damage, he said.
Thick smoke disrupted mall operations. "We did not
want to take any chance, considering the safety and security of staff and
customers. The mall was closed for inspections and would be reopened as
soon as possible," the spokesman said.
Although the incident happened on Tuesday night, the mall was cordoned off by
the police and civil defense on Wednesday morning,
witnesses said.
"No one was allowed to enter the mall. There was
traffic bottleneck in the area due to the presence of civil defense
trucks," an employee said.
Al Wahda Mall established in 2007 with over 152 brands
the mall has evolved and now expanded to be the biggest mall with over 350
brands spanning across a total size of 3.3 million square feet area.