Fire­crack­ers cause a scare at Centre Point Sabah

KOTA KIN­A­BALU: Hun­dreds of shop­pers and pa­trons at Cen­tre Point shop­ping com­plex, here panicked and fled yes­ter­day when some naughty teenagers al­legedly set off fire­crack­ers on the fifth floor, at Palm Square, on the first day of Hari Raya Aidil­fitri.

The 4pm in­ci­dent al­most caused a stam­pede when pa­trons, in­clud­ing those work­ing in the shop­ping mall, started run­ning out of the build­ing with­out know­ing what ac­tu­ally hap­pened.

Those on the ground floor were con­fused when other shop­pers from the top floor started run­ning down and out of the build­ing.

Fear­ing for their safety, they just fol­lowed think­ing a fire broke out in­side the build­ing.

Some pa­trons claimed that the build­ing started to shake, think­ing an­other earth­quake had just hap­pened.

Some pa­trons claimed that the build­ing started to shake, think­ing an­other earth­quake had just hap­pened.

Ac­cord­ing to Rina Doong, she was shop­ping for clothes when she felt the floor was shak­ing and saw peo­ple start run­ning to­wards the stair­case.

Ac­cord­ing to Rina Doong, she was shop­ping for clothes when she felt the floor was shak­ing and saw peo­ple start run­ning to­wards the stair­case.

“The first thing that went through my mind was an­other earth­quake.

“Without think­ing, I just grabbed my child’s hand and started run­ning to­wards the stair­case and out of the build­ing.

“Like ev­ery­one else, I am just as con­fused and did not know what ac­tu­ally hap­pened. Some say there was a fire while oth­ers claimed an earth­quake or af­ter­shock,” said the 30-year-old house­wife when met at the scene yes­ter­day.

A se­cu­rity guard, how­ever, ex­plained that the whole in­ci­dent hap­pened when some teenagers set off and threw fire­crack­ers from the fifth floor to the fourth floor lobby of Palm Square.

“Most shop­pers ini­tially thought a fire had bro­ken out and im­me­di­ately ran down to the ground floor and out of the build­ing.

“Other shop­pers who saw the chaotic sit­u­a­tion just fol­lowed, caus­ing the build­ing to vi­brate,” said the mall’s se­cu­rity guard.

The se­cu­rity guard, how­ever, said that no un­to­ward in­ci­dent was re­ported while shop­pers slowly made their way back into the build­ing about 30 min­utes later.

The se­cu­rity guard, how­ever, said that no un­to­ward in­ci­dent was re­ported while shop­pers slowly made their way back into the build­ing about 30 min­utes later.

By El­ton Gomes (BP)