The other fires at the Villaggio Mall

I keep on finding more evidence that the fire situation at the Villaggio is out of control. There have been many fires after the May 28, 2012 fire. Here is a list of some;

December 17, 2012
Heavy smoke from a restaurant kitchen sets off the fire alarm and a panic ensues. Staff handles the incident in total disarray and no controlled evacuation is performed, people just ran.

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/218289-fire-alarm-stirs-panic-at-villaggio-.html

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=560498

"A woman at the scene said she saw the staff members of a restaurant standing outside the outlet as if they were not facing any apparent problem."

"They asked the people to leave the place and within moments everybody wanted to get out with people pushing each other."

“I picked up one of the kids and rushed to the emergency exit.”

April 3, 2013 an electrical fire in an air conditioner unit sparks a fire in the mall near entrance number 2 at Topshop.  The same week Civil Defense conducted a drill at the Villaggio Mall, but a fire still occurred and the mall was evacuated.

http://www.constructionweekonline.com/article-21736-another-fire-breaks-out-at-dohas-villaggio-mall/1#.UY0YysoYp84

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/new-fire-breaks-out-at-qatar-s-villaggio-mall-496541.html#.UY0ZxsoYp84

http://iloveqatar.net/forum/read.php?28,41905

http://thepeninsulaqatar.com/qatar/231770-fire-alarm-causes-panic-at-villaggio.html

http://www.qatarchronicle.com/happenings/12420/fire-breaks-out-again-in-doha-villaggio-mall-2/

April 6, 2013 A fire breaks out in the snack machine in the cinema and smoke fills the entire wing of the mall. While the fire was not out of control and no one is injured people inside the cinema can hear no alarm and have to be told after 10 minutes by staff that there is a fire and that they should probably evacuate.

http://www.firstpost.com/topic/place/qatar-villaggio-cinemas-fire-6-4-2013-video-f1KcVVSUPAA-3449-1.html

http://dohanews.co/post/47259964451/villaggio-mall-cinema-goers-evacuated-after-snack

Maryam Charles "Tear that death trap down! It killed my daughter and deprived her son of his mother..."

Maryam Charles mother of SA teacher, Shameega Charles

The List of Victims of the May 28, 2012 Villaggio Mall Fire.

As the time comes closer to the one year anniversary of the fire I will take this time to name the people that perished due to the negligence and corruption of Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al-Rabban and his staff.

This post comes from Doha News and their great reporting of the Villaggio Mall Fire.

Children

• Ye Mengling, 4 years old, China
• Hana Sharabati, 3 years old, Canada, Saudi Arabia
• Omar Emraan, 18 months old, South Africa 
• Isabel Vela, 7 years old, Spain 
• Almudena, 7, Camilo, 5, and Alfonso, 2 years old, Travesedo (siblings), Spain
• Lillie, Jackson and Willsher Weekes (triplets), 2 years old, New Zealand 
• Zeinah Aouani, 2 years old, United States
• Yousef Shata, 3 years old, France, Egypt
• Ivana Anthonios, 2, Egypt

Firefighters

• Mahmoud Haidar, Iran 
• Hossam Chahboune, 22, Morocco 

Teachers

• Shameega Charles, 29, South Africa 
• Maribel Orosco, Philippines 
• Margie Yecyec, Philippines 
• Julie Ann Soco, Philippines

Let's blame Nike?

This post is to clarify my post from earlier..

In a tactical move beyond all reason.

The mall owners have suggested that Nike is to blame for the fire.

"With regards to who was responsible for the fire, one relative said, “I don’t care (about Nike). It’s still their mall.”

Read more: http://dohanews.co/post/36800980575/villaggio-fire-trial-postponed-after-lawyers-ask-nike#ixzz2SeUb8r4M

Meanwhile Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al-Rabban using his political influence and money is relaxing and paying his way out of his problems.

Perhaps he would of avoided this headache by installing a proper fire prevention system?

Some informative links on the Villaggio Mall fire

 These links should provide more information on the fire and how it transpired. It also gives a good idea of how the media went about their reporting.

The Wikipedia entry

Full list of victims from Doha News
This probably requires its own post, perhaps at a later time to commemorate them.

The reporting from the Daily Mail
Does a good job of bullet point the issues and the incident. Good collection of photographs (very intense).

Conspiracy Theory involving Syria
Experts point out that there was questions as to the authenticity of the documents provided.

The questions behind the certification and validity of the nursery.
Reporting by the New Zealand Herald.

Gulf News take on the fire the day of the incident
Includes the ministry request for people to stop spreading rumors.

Reporting of the committee setup

ASF with the firefighters story to save the children
This is truly heart breaking read, tells the account of children in the arms of dead firemen.

The beginning of the arrests

Details on the cause of the fire and the faulty wiring

I wonder what Mr. Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al-Rabban thinks about all this. Not sure the man has made a statement at all.

I will post more links later on perhaps, these ae a great source of information and help bring light to the victims and their families.

The Interview with Tzoulios Tzouliou

As it seems, Mr. Tzouliou is not even from Qatar, the name is a bit of a clue of course, but it gets better, I found his interview from 2010 Villaggio mall magazine and I will now post it as it was published.

Tell us a bit about yourself?

I am British born and was raised and educated in London My parents were Greek Cypriot Immigrants.

Apart from four years working in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia starting in 1983, I have lived and worked in London. I am a Chartered Electrical Engineer by profession and worked as such until 1996. I started to work with a property company, which acquired a number of shopping malls, or shopping centers as we call them in the UK. Shortly after starting there, my role began to include general management of the three malls for that company.

ELECTRICAL ENGINEER! The fire at the Villaggio Mall was caused by an electrical fault in the lighting in the Nike store.

I close this post out with the introduction to the interview.

 

Mr. Tzoulios Tzouliou manager of the Villaggio Mall deathtrap

Took a while to find a picture of this man, its seems the entire staff is not very public. However, I found one which may help to put a face to one of the responsible parities of the Villaggio Mall fire. I am sure the picture was taken prior to the fire, if anyone has a post fire picture please post it.

 

 

The Fire at the Villaggio Mall

I figure I offer a short break down of how the fire started and why I urge people not to shop at the Villaggio Mall any more. 

On May 28th a fire broke out in the Villaggio Mall and basically sealed off a major exit. Since there was no equipment to put out the fire like sprinklers, firefighting equipment, or properly trained staff the fire went uncontrolled for a long time.

Smoke fills the corridors and as it turns out the unlicensed nursery Gympanzee is in an area with no easy path out and packed with small children and babies. 19 humans die in the blaze 13 of which are children. 

In the aftermath of the fire the investigation finds that the lack of water sprinklers in the Villaggio Mall, inadequate fire alarm system, and poorly trained staff were significant factors in the loss of life. Other factors which came into play during the Villaggio Mall fire resulting in the loss of life were; substandard building material, faulty wiring, and confusing design of the mall.

The Villaggio Mall is a death trap by design.

Direct quote by the investigation team, " It appears a perfect storm of negligence and lack of preparation contributed to the death of 19 people in the deadly Villaggio fire."

The best payback.

I have a feeling that Mr. Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al-Rabban is a very powerful and corrupt man with the ability to influence the media, government, and perhaps even families. What can the people of Qatar do to combat such a tyrant? Well, vote with your wallet I say, hit him where it hurts. This is a mall after all and if people stop going to the Villaggio Mall then it will simply stop existing. Violence is out of the question by the way, just no.

I know some of you may be thinking, "There is are no alternatives where I live". I am sure that there will be and that they will be much safer than the fire death trap that the Villaggio Mall turned out to be.

Who was or is responsible for this Massacre?

 
So it took me a while to find out who was being charged with a crime in the trial, seems the media is not reporting on this matter and I wonder why.

Let’s start with the people in charge who are responsible for the deaths of 13 children by means of greed, incompetence, and corruption.

• ·         Villaggio Mall manager Mr. Tzoulios Tzouliou

• ·         Chairman of the mall and part owner Mr. Abdul Aziz Mohammed Al-Rabban

• ·         Mall Assistant manager Rima Itani

• ·         Assistant director of Security, who has no name as of now

All these people are child killers and need to be convicted of such heinous crime in the court. Justice must be served. It has been next to impossible to find information on this matter and if anyone can contribute anything please post a comment or send me an email.

Fun fact: there is a Trojan on the webpage of the Villaggio mall “about us” page, real professional. 

Villaggio Mall Fire Trial Results, NOT GUILTY

Seems there are no guilty parties responsible for the Villaggio Fire, since all charged parties pleaded “not guilty” to any charges. The worse part of the trial, April 4^th 2013 all parties found not guilty. So, there you have it good person of Qatar, no one is responsible for the death of your children.

Almost One Year

 I can’t believe it has been almost a year since the terrible fire at the Villaggio Mall. The anniversary will be on May 28^th. In case anyone forgot this is the fire that killed 19 people of which 13 were children. The mall seems to be still in operation too, its amazing people still shop there.