Fire at Glorietta for the second time in three days
Fire at Glorietta for the second time in three days
Manila: A mall in suburban Makati City was on fire for the second time in three days yesterday.
Shoppers at the Glorietta complex raced to the exits in panic as thick smoke engulfed the kitchen of Seafood! Seafood! restaurant.
Video footage aired by television station GMA showed visitors frantically heading for the doors as firefighters broke down glass doors with axes.
GMA News reported the fire could have started from the restaurant's exhaust fan. Witnesses said they noticed sparks coming from the device moments before the conflagration.
Under control
Chief Superintendent Luizio Ticman of the Southern Police District said the fire was brought under control within minutes.
The restaurant blaze came two days after a similar inferno struck the Luk Yuen Chinese restaurant in the same complex.
The Glorietta shopping mall was closed for the remainder of yesterday following the fire.
Regarded as one of the busiest shopping malls in the country, the Ayala Corporation-owned Glorietta has been the scene of at least three major incidents over the past seven years.
On May 17, 2000, a blast near a computer gaming establishment injured 13 people. The explosion occurred at a time when several bombing incidents were reported in Metro Manila.
A group of soldiers took over the mall on July 23, 2003 to mount what is now known as the "Oakwood Mutiny".
A group of 321 armed soldiers from elite army and navy units forcibly took over the exclusive Oakwood apartments inside the Glorietta.
Demanded
The soldiers rigged explosives around the mall and apartment block, and demanded President Gloria Arroyo step down along with several military officials they accused of corruption.
The attempted mutiny failed for lack of support from other military units.
Although the mutiny failed, some of the explosives used by the commandoes remained unaccounted for, including some which were believed to have been used by military rebels in a bomb attack on the car of a governor in Batangas in 2006.
