A massive blaze has engulfed a central mall in the Chechen capital of Grozny. Infernal videos from the scene show all three floors of the building on fire and emergency workers struggling to contain the flames.
The blaze consumed 700 square meters of the Grand Park shopping center on Thursday, after starting on the upper level of and quickly spreading to lower floors.
Videos from the sceneб , including footage by RT’s Ruptly agency, show the fire reaching disastrous scales as it bursts out of windows on all floors. Thick smoke can be seen billowing from the roof.
The largest mall in the whole of Chechnya, Grand Park hosted dozens of shops, a cinema and a children’s park.
Luckily, a mass-scale tragedy was averted thanks to a timely evacuation of all customers and staff. Witnesses posted footage of people hastily leaveing the building by the dozens.
The Chechen head, Ramzan Kadyrov, said there were no fatalities or injuries in the blaze, citing rescuers at the scene. Kadyrov later announced on his Telegram channel that the blaze has been put out. At least 12 firetrucks and some 50 personnel took part in containing the fire.
Last year, Russia was stunned by a tragedy at a mall in the Siberian city of Kemerovo, where 64 people died due to the rapidly spreading smoke and a botched evacuation. Tragically, the Zimnyaya Vishnya mall fire killed 41 children, many of whom were watching cartoons at the cinema.
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