SUBANG JAYA, Sept 28 — Four people were hurt in an early morning explosion at the Empire Gallery shopping mall here, which was heard from as far away as Bangsar.
Eyewitnesses described a scene of chaos, adding police, ambulances and the fire brigade are still on the scene.
Police tracker dogs are also there as the cops and Fire and Rescue Department personnel from stations across Subang Jaya, Shah Alam, Damansara and Puchong investigate the incident.
According to the department, a distress called was received at 3.45am this morning of an explosion at the mall, located at the entrance of Subang Jaya from the Federal Highway .
Early investigations show that the explosion started from the mall’s front and involved a gas pipeline. A media report states that the explosion occurred inside the Starbucks outlet.
Rescue workers confirmed four were with light injuries from the incident.
Two Nepalese workers were earlier trapped in the basement but have since been rescued and reportedly sustained minor injuries. Two other passers-by have also been taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
Nearly the entire stretch of the front portion of the newly-built mall have been blown out, damaging a number of cafes, restaurants and clothing stores including Tangs and Starbucks Coffee.
Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim tweeted this morning and prayed for the safety of the residents nearby.
Subang Jaya assemblyman Hannah Yeoh is also there, he added.
The shopping mall opened last year.
Yeoh told The Malaysian Insider she scrambled to get there after receiving a tweet about 3-something this morning.
“The four injured have been taken to the hospital. One broke his leg, apparently,” she said.
“The damage [to the building] is extensive. All of the lower floor all the way up to the second floor,” she added.
The cause of the explosion is still unknown, she said.
The police have sealed off the area surrounding the mall, causing a severe traffic jam as workers are caught up in the morning office rush hour.
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