Mandarin Oriental Beijing Went Up In Smoke Last Night!

There goes my goal of keeping a perfect attendance this month!  Traffic was horrible this morning on the third ring road going northbound.  Police put a blockade from Guanghua Road to Chaoyang Road on the service lanes as well as the Guanghua Road exit on the northbound highway.  Buses and cars are crawling as everyone would like to see the aftermath of the huge inferno last night.

Before                                                  During                                                     After

At around 830pm last night, the Television Cultural Center at the new CCTV complex was engulf in flames.  The Television Cultural center has a cinema, theatre, recording studios and the flagship hotel of Mandarin Oriental. Witnesses say it was due to fireworks.  One firefighter died due to smoke inhilation.  In the matter of hours the whole building was like the highlight of the firework show to celebrate the last day of the Spring Festival.  When we walked past near the area around 12mn, we can’t see anything due to smoke.  This morning on my way to work, you can see how big it really was and the extent of damage of the fire.

(Photo Credits: Rico Calma, ai de ke flickr photos)