Fire at Royal Palm Hotel, Maraval

[BrotherHood]

An explosion was heard followed by fire at Burger King/El Pecos Restaurant on the ground floor of Royal Palm Hotel, Maraval this morning...

http://www.trinidadexpress.com/news/Injuries-fire-as-Maraval-restaurant-explodes-290924161.html
[h=3]By Susan Mohammed and Gyasi Gonzales[/h] Story Created: Feb 5, 2015 at 11:54 AM ECT
Story Updated: Feb 5, 2015 at 1:39 PM ECT

AN EXPLOSION at a restaurant in Maraval has left 13 people injured. AT least four are in critical condition at the Port of Spain General Hospital.

The explosion at the El Pecos restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Royal Palm Plaza, occurred at around 10.45 a.m.

At noon, police and fire officers were still unsure if people were trapped inside the burning restaurant. All have since been accounted for, and the fire was extinguished shortly after noon.

However, Saddle Road has been closed to traffic from the Long Circular Roundabout to the entrance to Fairways, Maraval. The Shoppes of Maraval, which is located nearby, has been closed. The mall parking lot is being used as an emergency operations centre, where paramedics, doctors and nurses attended to the injured.

According to police, employees and several customers were inside the popular food outlet when gas tanks attached to the restaurant exploded and fire erupted.

It is suspected that a leak on a hose attached to a fuel truck supplying the El Pecos Restaurant, triggered the fire.

Exactly one year ago today, an outlet of El Pecos restaurant on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook, Port of Spain was burnt, causing millions of dollars in damage.

Richard Camacho, who owns the El Pecos chain of restaurants, told the Express that all his employees have been accounted four. There were eight employees in the restaurant.

It is uncertain whether, the gas truck employees are among the injured.

Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan visited the scene. He left a Cabinet meeting to assess the damage and said he would be reporting back to his colleagues.

Khan also visited the Port of Spain General Hospital, where the injured have been taken. He has asked that a ward be made available to treat the injured.

The fire was put out by officers of the Wrightson Road, Woodbrook and Belmost fire stations.

 

[Saxman642]

I work not far from there. I felt the ENTIRE building shake...

 

[LadyDeath]

Alot of speculation around this. Some people are saying lots of things about this incident. I am praying the 3 critical persons recover . What a sad sight !

People are saying :

1. Man did it for insurance money - no way two outlets can burn down in the space of 1 year
2. It was intentional that someone enemy did it out of sabotage
3. Obeah
4. It is just coincidence that they happened to burn down
5. KARMA

Which one you guys pick?

 

[nirtime]

In accordance to the context LadyDeath is using, I think: Potential carelessness/ improper knowledge.

 

[LadyDeath]

i guess we would never know eh? i'm not picking no sides but just confused at the whole situation. If you are saying that potential carelessness/improper knowledge caused this - in over 2 times in 1 year , if i was the safety inspector would not grant them license to open back yes .

 

[nirtime]

i guess we would never know eh? i'm not picking no sides but just confused at the whole situation. If you are saying that potential carelessness/improper knowledge caused this - in over 2 times in 1 year , if i was the safety inspector would not grant them license to open back yes .

Yes I share the same view, really not sure what is the cause, out here it could be just about anything.

I really think it may have something to do with carelessness because I fed up see so called professionals or experienced people doing their jobs in a doh care manner. It surprises me how often they escape by doing the wrong thing. For all we know they could have had a leak in whatever gas hose they were using and just never bother to change it either past its maintenance time or whatever but generally once there are problems like that its usually looked at seriously. That may not be the case here though, we really don't know for sure despite what leads the article may contain.

Also, the license granting is just a formality more than anything in Trinidad, with enough contact or money anyone can pretty much buy a license or a few.

 

[LadyDeath]

Here's the story that the newspaper posted.

15 hurt in El Pecos blast- IN A scene that was reminiscent of a violent day in Iraq, ambulances and fire engines were seen speeding through Saddle Road, Maraval and Long Circular as they ferried some 15 injured men and women to hospital following an explosion at the Royal Palm Plaza and Hotel.

There were no deaths as a result of this incident but it is believed that while receiving cooking gas from a supplier, the supplier?s fuel hose developed a leak which then began spewing the gas. As a result the Fire Service believes a mere spark may have caused the gas to ignite.

The explosion which was followed by a fire, gutted a total of three restaurants on the ground floor of the plaza. It began in the El Pecos Restaurant shortly before 10.30 a.m.

The other restaurants were, Burger King and Hurry Curry.

Exactly one year ago, another El Pecos restaurant located along Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook suffered major fire damage following a blaze which began in the restaurant?s kitchen.

Asked about this coincidence, El Pecos owner, Richard Camacho said yesterday he was mainly concerned with the well-being of his employees and not much else, ?at this time?.

Runako Griffith, an eye-witness, described what happened. He owns a restaurant known as Beautiful Buffet which is located on the compound of the Royal Palm Plaza.

Griffith said, ?Basically we were in the kitchen and as soon as we smell gas we start to look around to make sure everything all right.?

He added, ?As soon as I looked around I hear BOOM! and the whole building shake and everybody fall and start to run to evacuate. We run out one time and I get all my staff out as ceiling tiles caved in and front glass blow out, but it was minor damages.?

Griffith said all of his staff members were accounted for and two were taken to the Port of Spain General Hospital for treatment for injuries he described as minor.

Another eye-witness, Kerwyn Edwards said, ?While working in Hurry Curry I hearing an explosion and at the same time I see a woman running towards me and I just grabbed her hand and led her to the bathroom...then I took my time and I led her out. The lady was in a shock.?

When the Express arrived on the scene what appeared to be a well-oiled response was in effect.

The Saddle Road which leads to the hotel had been blocked off from the Long Circular Road roundabout from the south and the blockade extended about half a mile north.

The now cleared roadway was then used to accommodate several fire engines and Trinidad and Tobago Electricity Commission trucks on the scene.

Other businesses around the area such as Massy Stores, Superpharm and almost all the stores at the Shoppes of Maraval were closed.

The empty car-park of Massy Stores was then used to park six ambulances as a medical team from the PoS General Hospital was on stand-by to receive any of the other people who had been injured and not yet taken to hospital.

The Fire Service also used the car-park area as a staging point for their operations.

Chief Fire Officer, Nayer Rampersad was also on the scene and spoke to reporters. He too confirmed that no one was killed following yesterday?s explosion.

Rampersad said, ?There were 15 civilians injured with lacerations and cuts from glass and taken to hospital by our fire services and the GMRT (Global Medical Response Team).?

He said, ?We conducted a search of the entire building and no one was found dead and I can confirm the 15 injuries were not life threatening, but they were taken to the hospital.?

Rampersad beamed with pride as he described that yesterday?s blaze had been brought under control within 45 minutes and the fire was confined to the ground floor area. He described how his officers broke several panes of glass in the three restaurants as a way to ventilate the building as they carried out a search for people.

Newly-installed National Security Minister, Carl Alfonso said he was in a Cabinet meeting which he quickly left after hearing about the explosion.

?I got permission to leave to come and see what was happening on the ground and I am quite happy with the response of the Fire Services.?

Health Minister, Dr Fuad Khan spent some time at the scene as well, but left to go to the Port of Spain General Hospital in a bid to help coordinate relief efforts there. It is understood however that some of the injured opted to go to private health care facilities

 

[BrotherHood]

Unfortunate turn of events. Now people will be afraid to go El Pecos.