Beijing Mandarin Oriental Hotel

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The 241 room Beijing Mandarin Oriental Hotel was almost at the final finishing touches when a fire broke out and gutted the structure. The culprit — fireworks from the celebration of Lunar New Year.

The fire started Monday, February 9 at about 9 PM local time. The fire from the 44-storey luxury hotel was put out on Tuesday, but not without casualties. The blaze took the life of one fireman and injured a handful of other firemen as well as a worker from China Central Television.

This project was expected to be Beijing, China’s most luxurious hotel. The hotel was a master plan of Netherlands architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren.

Fireworks use is strictly prohibited in China, but with the Lunar New Year it is legal to use them. The people took advantage of this and come Monday, they let out a barrage of fireworks to honor the last day of the Lunar New Year.

Onlookers said that they saw smoke rise up from the hotel roof shortly after a barrage of fireworks sprinkled it with sparks.

Erik Amir, an OMA senior architect said he was sad to see the structure destroyed before it can be opened to the public. He added that the fire ended years of hard work because the hotel was nearing completion in just a few months.

The blaze was filmed and can be watched on YouTube with 289 commenter’s showing grief and condolences, while others seem disturbingly desensitized.

One of seven died

It was also reported that a 30-year-old fireman named, Zhang Jianyong died as a result of the fire. The said officer with the Hongmiao Fire Department died 1:30 am. He was one of the seven injured firemen who responded on the scene.

There are also about 20 other people injured in the inferno. There were 595 firefighters and 85 fire engines that hastened to the growing inferno close to the China Central Television’s headquarters in downtown Beijing.

Repercussions of the fire

Much has been lost in the fire, but the glaring loss, aside from the obvious death, would be the 60 jobs that employ several hospitality crew and staff. The question is; where will these people go now? Rebuilding of the Mandarin Oriental Hotel is not yet manifesting in talks or even rumors. Will the high rise building ever be built again after this tragedy?

Hope is always high, but the economic downturn is proving to be a tough taskmaster — ready to whip the student at the slightest mistake.

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