Kochi mall closed for lack of fire safety measures

Kochi: A popular mall in the city was today closed down by civic authorities a week after a fire mishap in the five-storey building brought to fore lack of fire safety measures.

The Oberon Mall was closed as it did not comply with a stop memo issued earlier asking the management to halt its functioning till the safety measures were put in place, a city corporation official said.

The memo was issued after the Fire and Rescue department found some shortcomings in the fire fighting system at the mall, where the mishap occurred last week.

In a related development, the Kerala High Court today directed the city corporation and Fire and Rescue department to inform the action taken against the mall for non-compliance of directions over safety features.

The court gave the directive during the hearing of a petition by the mall management challenging the stop memo.

Last week, fire broke out in one of kitchens at the food court on the fourth floor of the building.

Timely action by the firefighters had averted a major disaster as the public and staff were safely evacuated soon after the fire broke out.