At least two shoppers were injured when large sections of a Doha shopping centre ceiling collapsed on Wednesday night, local media have reported.
Large pieces of plaster fell from the ceiling in Landmark Mall, near the entrance to the food court and children’s play area, in the second major incident at the same mall in less than two years.
“When I was walking out [of the mall] the fire alarm started,” shopper Emma Louise Kennedy told Doha News.
“I started to run out but no one even moved. Everyone seemed to make their way to where the accident was.”
Kennedy’s sister Anna told the newspaper she was walking out of the food court, near the incident, when she heard a loud crash about 8.45pm.
“People began to run over and I started to see children crying so I ran over,” she was quoted as saying.
“There was a lot of debris on the floor and people were watching over from Opera cafe. I don’t believe anyone was hurt, not that I had seen; I think people had just got a fright.
“The security were great, they got everyone away from the area and were quick in doing so. Then the alarms went off and everyone was ushered out of the mall.”
Ahmed Hassna, a security manager at the mall, confirmed that
two people, including a baby, had been injured, the Doha News report said.
In April 2013, the ceiling above Haagen Dazs ice cream shop – near to the recent incident – also caved in.
No one was injured during that incident, which occurred during the early hours of a weekday morning.
In May 2012, 19 people, including 13 children, died when a fire broke out at Villagio Mall, owned by the same firm that controls Landmark Mall.
Five people were sentenced to jail terms over the blaze but none have been detained.
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