DUBAI: The world’s largest mall was plunged into darkness Monday night as a power outage led to stores closing and Dubai Police personnel descending on the scene while shoppers shared photos and videos of the incident.
The power outage hit The Dubai Mall at 7.13 p.m. and saw cash tills, escalators and all power-driven machinery come to a halt leading more than 1,000 commercial outlets to ask shoppers to leave.
Shoppers navigated their way through the mall using their phone lights and the back-up generators kicked in to keep the elevators, emergency exit doors and some back-up lights working, Gulf News reported.
The newspaper reported that security staff cordoned off one of the entrances to the mall but added that the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, was not affected.
Power was restored at 8.47pm.
In a released statement, the mall’s utility service provider said: “Dubai Electricity and Water Authority’s (Dewa) technicians successfully restored power to Dubai Mall tonight after a power outage that was caused by the transfer of high-voltage cables from Dubai Mall substation, based on a request from Emaar.
“Dewa and Emaar had previously agreed to transfer the cables. During the transfer, the outage occurred because one line went out of service. Dewa’s technicians fully restored power very quickly. The electricity and water supply to the rest of the area was not affected.
. @DEWAOfficial MD & CEO Saeed Al Tayer and @DubaiPoliceHQ Chief Abdullah Al Marri overseeing operations to restore power at Dubai Mall pic.twitter.com/liI45pDJzl
— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) April 24, 2017
“Dewa would like to thank everyone who worked on the matter, especially Dubai Police, Dubai Civil Defense, Dubai Ambulance Corporation and The Media Office, as well as Dewa’s working teams, the Mall management and staff, and retail outlet owners.”
In a statement, a mall spokesperson said: “Power has been restored in The Dubai Mall and all operations have resumed. We regret the inconvenience caused to our visitors and thank them for their patience.”
Many shoppers took to social media to share images of the surreal experience at one of the city’s busiest malls.
#dubaimall electricity outage? pic.twitter.com/fZQt9AFoL7
— Mira (@mirajnader) April 24, 2017
Dubai mall at the moment people walking around with flash lights. What's happening pic.twitter.com/la9mDeKVXS
— Amna (@Amote2ah) April 24, 2017
Wow the #DubaiMall just went pitch black, we're live there#dubai #mydubai pic.twitter.com/PNrxPEkXsX
— AdventureFaktory (@AFtravels) April 24, 2017
