Malé, Maldives — A large fire breaks out in a buulding of the capital Malé city.
The fire broke out in a building of Henveiru Ward and has burned fiercely on Friday night. While the Maldives National Defence Force (MNDF)’s Fire and Rescue Service were set to distinguish the fire, the blaze which erupted next to a Bank of Maldives’s ATM on Boduthakurufaanu Magu continued to burn strongly.
Luckily, the military personnel had evacuated all the residence in the fire area to a safer place resulting in no injuries.
Of the ten-storey adjacent building, the fire had spread through all the floor till the top ones reportedly due to the steel cladding outside the building. The Bank of India (SBI), one of the largest bank in Maldives was located in this building as well.
Reporters stated that althought the fire had completely covered the penthouse of the building, there were no people trapped in the fire.
Due to the reignition of fire, when the Fire and Rescue Service attempted to extinguish it, the building where the fire first originated had completely burned through.
Whilst everything, Health Protection Agency (HPA) continue to warn the citizens to not gather to the scene of fire as to avoid smoke inhalation. They also requested the residents of that area to keep their doors and windows closed.
After about two hours of the fire, the Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting team finally arrived on the scene to assist MNDF personnel who were occupied in controlling “the raging fire”. The Minister of Defence, Mariya Ahmed Didi had also arrived to the scene.
Although the fire then started to slowly low, there was fire still burning at the Gadhagey Mohamedfulhu Building and the cafe’ where the blaze erupted.
Since the floors of the State Bank of India (SBI) were nowhere damaged by the fire, the bank stated that sevices will still be provided on Sunday, as usual since they had disaster backup available.
The Defence Minister Mariya disclosed that the fire was initially reported around 2145hrs. While inspecting the floors of the building and assessing the damages, MNDF confirmed that no individuals were present inside the building at the time of the fire.
