Philippines sees second mall blaze in two weeks

Firefighters have brought under control a blaze that raged for two days at a shopping mall in the central Philippines, with no casualties reported, a regional fire official said on Sunday.

The fire at Ayala Center Cebu was the second at a mall within two weeks, following an incident that killed 37 call centre employees in the southern city of Davao.

The fire was under control by 12:45 p.m. on Sunday, Samuel Tadeo, the regional director of the Bureau of Fire Protection, told reporters.

“The mall will remain closed until the fire is extinguished and we have done our full systems check,” Ayala Center Cebu said in a posting on its Facebook page.

All employees and shopping mall customers were evacuated after smoke was detected in a toy store room in the Metro Department Store and Supermarket on the third level of the Ayala Center Cebu. The extent of damage was still unclear.

The property firm behind Ayala Center Cebu is owned by Ayala Corp, one of the Philippines’ largest conglomerates.