Four shops gutted in fire in Rangoon shopping mall

by Myint Maung

Sunday, 14 December 2008 23:13

New Delhi (Mizzima) - A fire broke out in Rangoon's popular shopping mall, Yuzana plaza, and gutted at least four shops including a famous TRI fashion shop on the ground floor of the mall on Sunday, eyewitnesses and fire fighters said. According to an eyewitness, the fire started at about 6:30 p.m. (local time) from the TRI fashion shop, and spread to three other shops on the ground floor of Yuzana Plaza in Rangoon's Minglar Taung Nyunt Township. An official in the Rangoon's central fire department confirmed news of the fire, which was extinguished at about 7:30 p.m. by fire fighters, but declined to provide details. "Yes, it is true that there was a fire [in the Yuzana Plaza] but we cannot tell you anything else," the official told Mizzima over telephone. The eyewitness, however, said the fire was believed to be the result of a short circuit in the TRI fashion shop and spread to three other shops, which mainly sell textiles and clothing – all inflammable material. There was no casualty from the fire as the shops were closed, he eyewitness said. It was not immediately known how much was lost in the fire. On Thursday, a man and a woman were killed in a fire that broke out in a room close to the Mingalar plaza in Rangoon's Minglar Taung Nyunt Township. Both the man and woman, who died in the hospital later, were in the room when the fire started and were suffocated by smoke before fire fighters could extinguish the blaze. While fires in Burma are not uncommon, another source in Rangoon said, it has become more frequent recently. As residents in various townships of Rangoon, receive only six hours of electricity supply a day in a rotational system, the source said, people often forget to put off electric switches, from which short circuits often occur. According to him, the fire at Yazana Plaza began from an electric switch board in the shop, which the shop keepers had forgotten to switch off before closing the shop, as there was no electricity when they left. An official in the Rangoon electricity department earlier told Mizzima that electricity supply failed as there was a fault in the gas-propelled turbine, which is used to generate electricity. He said electricity is supplied in a rotational basis to various townships. Edited by Mungpi < Prev   Next >