Chilling moment Brit tourists run screaming from Costa del Sol shopping centre after deep fat fryer
HUNDREDS of people fled a shopping centre in a stampede after a deep fat fryer exploded, sparking fears of a terror attack.
A loud bang was heard inside the Miramar shopping centre, in the popular Spanish resort of Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
Shoppers - including British tourists and expats - screamed and ran for their lives yesterday afternoon fearing the centre was under attack.
Firefighters later revealed a fryer had caught fire in a pizza restaurant - sparking a panic.
A local news website reported the incident with the headline: “The explosion of a fryer unleashes panic at the Miramar shopping centre.”
And one person tweeted in English: “What is going on miramar shopping center in Fuengirola??
"People going crazy.”
Fuengirola, 20 miles south west of Malaga, is a British holiday hotspot and home to thousands of expats.
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English voices were heard screaming during the panic.
One witness filmed the 4pm drama on a mobile phone.
It shows men, women and children dashing across a grass riverbank and a bridge nearby.
A man asks in Spanish: “What’s going on?” to which a woman replies “It’s a bomb scare.” "A bomb!" he replies.
An Englishman is heard saying “Relax, relax” as he walks past.
David del Barrio, shopping centre manager, said the kitchen blaze had set off the fire alarm.
“That alarm has a sound which caused the first people to run,” he said, adding that there had been no need to evacuate the shopping centre as practically "evacuated itself”.
The kitchen was damaged as was the floor below.
One woman was treated for a sprained ankle, but nobody was seriously hurt.
Local newspaper Diario Sur reported: “False rumours about bombs, terror attacks and gunshots circulated. The mayor Ana Mula posted messages on Twitter and Facebook to calm people down after this massive scare.”
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