CityONE blast: Master licensor wants to be part of on-going probe
KUCHING: NeNe Chicken Malaysia, the master licensor of the franchise in Malaysia, wants to be a part of the ongoing investigations into the gas explosion at CityONE Megamall on Tuesday.
NeNe Chicken Malaysia managing director Raymond Wong said their staff was also a victim of the explosion, and the management is finding it hard to explain to the affected families what actually transpired on that fateful day.
He said he was also f looded with enquiries from members of the public, and as the master licensor, it is their responsibility to respond to the comments, which they could not do due to the lack of official information.
“I took the last flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching on Tuesday night as soon as I heard of the news of the explosion around 4pm, and also finding out that one of our staff (Chin Hsien Loong) was among the dead,” Wong said when met at the Waterfront Hotel here yesterday.
At a press conference earlier, Wong said they had taken their own initiative to meet with the police and the Fire and Rescue Department (Bomba) forensic team here to obtain any information about the incident.
“We have also conveyed to the investigators what we were told by our own personnel, two of whom are seriously injured in the incident. The latest information we have from the authorities is that the investigation is still ongoing,” said Wong.
The CityONE licensee, he added, had also been contacted to provide NeNe Chicken Malaysia all the necessary documentation as they are also in the process of conducting their own internal investigations.
NeNe Chicken Malaysia’s role in East Malaysia, as far as the CityONE outlet is concerned, is confined to providing the licensee the concept of the restaurant and other related plans and manuals.
“The appointment of the contractors and other persons involved with the ‘ fitting- out’ of the restaurant, in particular, the kitchen, was wholly arranged by the CityONE licensee, and does not fall within our jurisdiction,” Wong added.
Due to their non-involvement in the ‘fitting- out’ of the kitchen, he believed is why they ( NeNe Chicken Malaysia) are excluded by the authorities in the on- going investigation.
On another note, he said NeNe Chicken Malaysia is fully committed to help all the victims and their families in these extremely traumatic times, and urged the authorities to expedite their investigations and to make their findings public as soon as possible.
NeNe Chicken Malaysia general manager Ken Tan was also present at the press conference.
The suspected gas explosion on Tuesday killed three individuals, namely, O Kui Lim, 49, from Batu Kawa, Tchee Kiam Joong, 24, from Stutong Baru, and Chin Hsien Loong, 29, from Penang, whose remains were flown home (to Penang) yesterday evening.
Forty- one others were injured in the blast, 10 of them in serious condition, were rushed to Sarawak General Hospital, and private hospitals for treatments.
The shopping mall is also temporarily closed until investigations are completed.