RIYADH: A Saudi shopping mall was on Friday engulfed in smoke after a blaze broke out in the early hours of the morning.
Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing from the Mall of Dhahran in Alkhobar — the largest commercial market in the Eastern Province — as emergency crews battled to contain the fire.
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Officials said no one was hurt in the blaze, although a number of animals were rescued from a pet store.
Lt. Col. Mohammed Al-Hammadi, spokesman for the Civil Defense, told Arab News that a Civil Defense team from Dhahran, supported by other firefighters and airborne assistance, had by midday managed to extinguish the fire.
In a statement issued on Friday, the Civil Defense said that initial investigations pointed to the blaze starting in the mall’s roof insulators before flames spread to other areas of the 220,000-square-meter shopping center.
An eyewitness said that members of a Civil Defense team plucked several pets to safety from an animal care store in the mall.
Saudi journalist Hussein Al-Falih, who lives close to the mall, said: “I hadn’t got out of the neighborhood before I saw flames and fumes coming from the mall’s building.”
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He added that smoke began to gradually envelop the mall — managed by the Arabian Centers Co. — reducing visibility in the immediate area. “I saw many vehicles from the Civil Defense, and there were helicopters flying over the mall.”