Lima (EFE).- The Peruvian government has “unofficial” information that six people have died due to the collapse of a dome in the Real Plaza shopping mall in the city of Trujillo, said Defense Minister Walter Astudillo on Saturday.
“According to unofficial information from the departmental commander of the Fire Department of La Libertad, there are so far six dead, five at the scene and one in a hospital,” Astudillo said in a statement to the media from the mall.
78 people were injured, of which 30 have been discharged, and 48 remain hospitalized, three of them in serious condition, added Astudillo.
Regarding the number of missing persons, the departmental commander of the Fire Brigade, Luis Fernando Roncal, said that there are four people still trapped under the rubble of the dome.
Peru continues search in collapsed mall
The large dome fell at around 8:40 p.m. on Friday, February 21, onto the mall’s restaurant area, which also contained a children’s amusement park and access to the cinemas.
The authorities have explained that a specialized 200-ton crane is needed to lift the wreckage of the dome, but it has not yet reached the accident area.
Another difficulty was that at the time of the tragedy, bars, and nightclubs in the area near the mall were just beginning to open. Rescue teams have complained that the businesses did not turn down the music so that they could hear cries for help or movement.
“You need silence for the firefighters to hear the slightest call for help, the slightest request, for a person to (…) be able to say, here I am, gentlemen, it has not been possible to be efficient,” lamented the inspector of the Volunteer Fire Department of Peru in the department of La Libertad, Gelqui Gómez, to the radio station RPP.
A tragedy foretold
The Real Plaza de Trujillo is the largest shopping center in Peru outside Lima, with 220,000 square meters, and it was a refuge for its citizens, as this town has been in a state of emergency for months due to a crime wave.
The mayor of Trujillo, Mario Reyna, has pointed out that the rains and the accumulated humidity could be the reason for the collapse.
On December 29, 2023, the Municipality of Trujillo ordered its closure due to structural deficiencies, which generated complaints among politicians and business associations.
When this measure was announced, the mall itself issued a statement assuring that the observations made by the authorities did not represent “an imminent danger” nor were they cause for the closure of the establishment.
A week later, on January 4, 2024, Real Plaza Trujillo announced its reopening assuring that the facilities were in “perfect condition.”
When the initial closure was announced, the then mayor of the city, now a fugitive, Arturo Fernandez, had warned that this mall was unsafe.
The manager of Risk Management and Civil Defense, Moises Hurtado, explained this Saturday from the site of the accident that the inspection they made in 2023 that allowed the reopening, focused on the electrical structure of the building and that the dome depended on the maintenance of the mall.
The Real Plaza chain, operated by Intercorp, has 21 shopping centers in 13 cities in the country, some of which also have this type of dome.EFE
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