A series of small explosions was followed by a thick cloud of smoke and around 400 people had to be evacuated from the Larios shopping centre in Málaga yesterday.
The incident was caused by a fire in an electricity transformer in calle Gabriel Celaya, probably due to an overload of the system.
Smoke filled the Larios centre and the police and firefighters moved swiftly to evacuate around 400 people. There was apparently never any real danger as the fire was controlled and no threat of flames spreading to the building itself.
The firefighters were ably to quickly extinguish the fire, although they did first have to wait for Sevillana-Endesa to cut the electricity supply. At 13:30 the workers in the centre were allowed to return and by 14:00 the centre was once again open and back to normal. Well, almost. Some of the shops remained without electricity for a while.
Traffic in the area became even more congested as plaza de la Solidaridad, calle Rachmaninov and calle Gabriel Celaya were cordoned off as a precautionary measure.