Warsaw, Poland — On Sunday morning, a large fire broke out in a large shopping complex in the Polish capital that housed some 1,400 shops and service establishments and where many of the sellers were from Vietnam.
Huge columns of black smoke could be seen rising above the vast area. Firefighters said more than 80% of the Marywilska 44 shopping complex in Warsaw’s Bialoleka district burned and the roof collapsed.
Police reported no injuries, but traders were desperate over the loss of their livelihoods. The Gazeta Wyborcza newspaper reported that some Vietnamese vendors wanted to enter to save their goods from the complex, but were blocked by security guards.
The Association of Vietnamese Businessmen in Poland said the fire meant “huge financial losses for merchants,” calling it a “terrible tragedy for thousands of merchants and their families.”
Among the large number of rescue officials involved in the operation were chemical and environmental rescue specialists. Authorities sent a text message warning Warsaw residents about the fire and telling them to stay home with their windows closed.
The owner of the shopping center is Mirbud, an industrial construction company listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
Warsaw police said they had begun investigating the fire, which started around 3:30 a.m. local time (0130 GMT), but had not yet determined the cause.
The Warsaw city administration was scheduled to discuss on Monday financial support for small traders whose livelihoods were destroyed.
Shopping malls and department stores are often closed on Sundays due to a trade ban imposed by the previous government, which had close ties to the Catholic Church. However, small business owners are exempt from the ban and many of the small downtown stores were working on Sundays.
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