Story By: John Feng, Sub-Editor: Alex Cope, Agency: Asia Wire Report
Video Credit: AsiaWire
This is the moment a frightened crowd scream in terror as a waterlogged ceiling breaks and crashes onto the floor of a packed shopping centre.
The footage from Vanke Mall in China’s eastern port city of Shanghai shows shoppers filming the basement level as large volumes of water leak from the ceiling boards.
As staff members move furniture away from puddles forming on the tiles, the ceiling boards suddenly burst open and crash onto the floor on the afternoon of 24th August.
According to reports, a pipe carrying water broke in the ceiling above the basement-level 1 passage leading to Qibao Station, which is on Line 9 of the Shanghai Metro.
The water main burst caused a build-up of water in the plaster ceiling boards, which finally gave way at roughly 1:20pm, the shopping centre said in a media statement.
A maintenance team was immediately sent to fix the pipes, and normal operations resumed at the popular shopping centre two hours later.
According to a Vanke media statement, no one was injured during the incident, which is thought to have been caused by a broken screw.
Investigations into the precise cause of the accident are still ongoing.
Vanke Mall – built 25 years ago – recorded visitor numbers of over 29 million in 2018.
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