2024-05-12 14:04 update: 2024-05-14, 12:51
Photo PAP/Leszek Szymański
A fire which broke out on Sunday morning in a vast shopping centre in the Bialoleka district in Poland's capital has burnt down almost the entire facility.
"Thanks to a fast rescue operation carried out by 58 teams and around 180 firefighters, the fire has been put out," the interior ministry wrote on the X platform.
No injuries have been reported, according to the fire brigades.
As thick black smoke had been rising over the area, the operation had also been joined by chemical and environmental rescue specialists.
Warsaw authorities had sent a text message warning Warsaw residents about the fire, asking them to stay at home with the windows closed.
Some time later, Michal Konopka of the Warsaw headquarters of the State Fire Brigades said that the smoke no longer posed a threat to the health of Warsaw residents.
Apart from retail outlets, the Marywilska 44 shopping centre also had a wholesale offer.
Warsaw authorities declared that they would launch talks with shop owners on Monday to find out what assistance could be offered to them.
Marywilska 44 was built after Warsaw City Hall decided to relocate merchants who ran their shops in the very centre of the city, near the communist-era Palace of Culture and Science, and from the former Stadion Dziesieciolecia on the east side of the River Vistula, at that time considered to be one of the biggest bazaars in Europe.
The new facility housed hundreds of retail shops, very often run by merchants of Vietnamese origin, offering cheap textiles and other products mostly made in China as well as food establishments. It was visited by up to 10,000 customers every day. (PAP)
at/jd
