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Moviegoers flee Malaysian mall after late night fire

Hundreds of screaming and coughing moviegoers fled a cinema complex in the Petronas Twin Towers on Friday night after a fire filled a shopping mall at the Malaysian landmark with thick, acrid smoke. No serious injuries were reported.

About 700 to 800 people fled from the 13-screen Tanjong Golden Village facility on the third floor of the Suria mall abutting towers shortly before midnight Friday, witnesses said.

"It was really terrible. People were running helter-skelter. We were choking and coughing and it's a miracle there was no stampede," said Minati Panda, a Kuala Lumpur resident who was at the movies with her husband.

The fire started in a stairway landing outside a restaurant on the first level of the Suria.

"It's not arson, definitely not arson," fire squad superintendent Zul Fahmi Sutaji said yesterday.

"The restaurant owner put kitchen materials on the landing and we believe the fire started from there," Zul Fahmi said.

Investigators were still working the scene and the definitive cause of the blaze would only be know in a few days, he said.

Patrons said no fire alarm sounded and the sprinklers did not work. There were also no cinema employees to guide people out, said Afisuddin Hafifi, a government lawyer who had been attending a movie.

Fire engines arrived about 20 minutes after the smoke was detected and extinguishd the fire in about an hour.
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