Central World is on fire now.

[Jasper]

https://t.co/zQkogWL1AE

[witty]

Looking grim. 

[Jasper]

https://www.bangkokpost.com/news/general/1659704/fire-kills-3-at-centralworld-in-bangkok

Fire kills 3 at CentralWorld in Bangkok | Bangkok Post: news

Three people died and seven others were injured, some after jumping from the eighth floor, when fire broke out at the CentralWorld shopping complex on Wednesday evening.

The CentralWorld management stated on its Facebook page that the fire started at about 5.40pm in a smoke ventilation duct on the eighth floor of the shopping centre, which stands adjacent to Centara Grand at CentralWorld hotel on Rama I Road, close to the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathumwan district.

Witnesses saw two people jumping from the eighth floor. Thick black smoke was seen billowing out, and explosions were heard.

Both the hotel and the shopping centre were evacuated. Initial reports said many people were trapped in the building. The CentralWorld page said its fire fighters put out the blaze at 6.10pm, about half an hour after it started.

Bangkok governor Aswin Kwangmuang said the building was ordered closed.

The blaze caused heavy traffic snarl-ups in the vicinity, especially on Rama I and Ratchadamri roads, as it occurred in the evening rush hour.

[reader]

From Coconuts Bangkok (11 Apr.)

Some of those who escaped the acrid smoke and flames at CentralWorld last night took to social media today to criticize the mall’s alarm and evacuation systems.

In numerous posts, people who were inside the shopping mall when the fire started just before 6pm said that if they heard any, there was a long delay before alarms went off and the evacuation order given – something the mall this morning chalked up to a system design to minimize chaos.

“I work here. I don’t even know what happened,” mall employee @Sone09_0805 tweeted. “There was no alarm to warn us. There was an announcement, but it was very quiet. The security guards in the mall were also nowhere to be found. I only found out about the fire when smoke reached the store I worked at. I almost didn’t make it out in time.”

Facebook user Air Jariyaporn Wongsawad wrote that she was on the mall’s fifth floor with her two children when she noticed several people rushing to get out.

That was when a passerby told her there was fire.

“I was pretty shaken up because I had two kids with me. What confuses me, though, is why I didn’t hear a fire alarm at all. Was I too far from where the fire started?” she wrote.

We’ve reached out to several of those who shared complaints for more information but received not responses by publication time.

Mall owner Central Pattana said the mall’s size is a factor in how its emergency system operates in a statement this morning seeming to address the criticism.

“Since the mall is so big and has many exits, we had to divide our alarm system into many sections. Thus, our alarms don’t go off at once, but in a specific order to avoid chaos and accidents during evacuation,” it said in the statement.

Another Facebook user, Soda Zonic, posted footage of people evacuating while no audible alarm could be heard. “There’s so much smoke,” he can be heard saying in the clip.

He added the following caption to the video:  

“I’m still confused about the CentralWorld Fire:

1. There were no alarms
2. The announcement was extremely delayed
3. Many of the entrance/exit doors suddenly closed without an announcement. We could only exit through the front of the mall.”

Spanning more than 500,000sqm, CentralWorld is one of Bangkok’s largest shopping malls.

Continues with photos and videos

https://coconuts.co/bangkok/news/evacuees-say-no-fire-alarms-heard-centralworld/