Fires in Malé causes millions in damages

A fire that engulfed an electronic shop in Male’s Maafannu ward this morning spread to a warehouse next door, destroying goods worth millions of rufiyaa.

The fire was reported at the Farivaa Electronics at 4am today. Flames spread to a warehouse, owned by hardware store Target. and was only controlled two hours later. No one was injured, the police said.

The cause of the fire has not been determined yet. But the owners of Farivaa told local media they suspect flames may have ignited in the state electricity company’s distribution board located in front of the store.

Target and Fariva say they lost a combined total of MVR30million (US$1.9million), according to media reports.

On Monday several cars were destroyed in a fire at the carnival area.

The authorities are yet to conclude an investigation into a massive fire at a Lily Store warehouse in Malé in March. A number of families were forced out of their homes.

The two-storey Lily Store warehouse in Maafanu ward was completely destroyed, causing damages worth an estimated MVR30 million (US$1.9 million), according to Lily Store owner Ahmed Naseer.

Naseer told local media that nothing was salvaged from the warehouse, which he said was stored with newly imported goods.

A series of minor fires had broken out in Male in June as well.

A fire that broke out at the United Food Supplies warehouse in the Maafanu ward in June, which mainly stores vegetables, frozen goods and other food items. At the time, the police suggested that the fire was most likely caused by faulty equipment.

The incident occurred three days after a fire broke out at the Kaaminee Shopping Centre in the city’s main thoroughfare Majeedhee Magu on June 18.