Video Captures Shoppers Escaping Out Of A Mall As They Thought It Was Going To Collapse
Chaos ensued after cracking sounds were heard throughout the mall in Sandakan, Sabah and it wasn’t caused by an earthquake.
By Hizral Faiz Rozeman — 14 Jun 2022, 04:17 PM
Loud tile-cracking sounds that were heard at Harbour Mall, Sandakan on 12 June led shoppers to believe the building was collapsing or that there was an earthquake
The cracked tiles were from a shop lot on the fourth floor, but the sounds could be heard throughout the mall, which sent shoppers panicking and rushing to evacuate the building, according to Harian Metro.
Videos recorded by shoppers showing the chaos have circulated online. In one video, the person recording can be heard saying they were scared as they felt the ground shaking under them.
Following the incident, the Harbour Mall building management refuted all claims of the building collapsing,
However, they admitted that the loud cracking sounds heard throughout the mall did indeed happen.
"Yes, indeed there was a loud noise from the fourth floor. It was only a result of a small area of floor tiles that cracked this morning (12 June)," read a statement by the mall.
"Please be assured that our mall building is in excellent condition and there are no structural issues as claimed by some irresponsible parties."
The mall management went on to urge the public to stay calm and avoid spreading false information without verifying its authenticity.
The Sandakan Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) enforcement unit later inspected the building and found only a few cracked tiles in one shop lot.
The woman who recorded some of the viral videos has since come forward and issued an apology
The woman filed a police report over the incident, admitting that she was the one responsible for making a false statement in the video posted on Facebook.
The police report states that she and her friend admitted to have recorded the viral video claiming the mall was collapsing. She added that the video was only meant to be shared in a WhatsApp group with her friends.
She did not expect the video to go viral and felt very guilty for what happened. She included an apology to the Harbour Mall management and explained that she made the police report to ease any related burdens caused by the videos.
The woman also urged the irresponsible parties who spread the videos to come clean.
