Waterfront fire chaos

A VISITOR to the V&A Waterfront recounted how chaos erupted when smoke filled the entire section of the Victoria Wharf shopping centre.

An electrical substation caught alight in the basement, leading to visitors and workers attempting to evacuate on Wednesday.

Sonia Terblanche, with her husband and two children, were inside a restaurant when smoke began filling the area.

They attempted to exit the building as they could not breathe.

“When we got outside the restaurant, there were no wheelchair facilities for babies in a pram and the doors were locked. We couldn’t get out and couldn’t breathe.

“A man forced the doors open from the outside and we could get out, my husband then ran back inside to trigger the fire alarm but it could only be operated by the security and they refused to set the fire alarm off,” said Terblanche.

In a video sent to the Cape Times by Terblanche, her husband JP Terblanche records the smoke filled centre.

V&A Waterfront spokesperson Donald Kau said engineers worked overnight and restored power to most of the mall. Trading resumed and no injuries were reported.

“What the visitor experienced is the partial evacuation of a section of the mall. In this instance, alarms are only activated in the area closest to the incident,” he said.