In a protracted battle between “red shirt” protesters, backed by ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and military troops along with police; the Central World mall, which has been shut for more than six weeks has been destroyed by a fire, which was set by a faction within the protesters, who became enraged by their leaders surrender to police. Previously known as the World Trade Center, Central Pattana agreed to purchase it for 9 billion baht in December 2002 including 5 billion baht of debt incurred by the previous owners. A complicated 5 billion baht expansion & renovation of the mall took over a year and a half to complete, while existing tenants stayed on through the inconvenience of construction. Unfortunately, the building has been on fire for many hours and has collapsed; and with it the remnants of many restaurants and shops, markets and theaters. It has now been confirmed, that the opposite end of the building where Isetan Department Store is located, survived the fire.
image credits: Reuters
Central World Burning Video: This video shows the burning of Central World mall and is very graphic and quite shocking in its detail.
