UPDATED:

Businesses at Sahali Mall will be back open at noon, after having been evacuated this morning because of a gas line break inside the FreshCo grocery store.

Manager of Simply Computing, Regan Hayes, says Kamloops Fire Rescue crews at the scene said the break happened inside the new FreshCo store, which is still under construction and not yet open.

“We were told by the firefighters that in the construction at the new FreshCo, the line cracked, and they’ve had to evacuate everybody in the mall.”

He says about eight businesses in the mall are still open on a limited scale during the COVID-19 pandemic, including a daycare. He says his storefront is the closest to the store where the line was damaged, and says gas could be smelled in his store this morning.

“What I think most people have done is asked their staff to go home. Because if there was an explosion, which hopefully there wouldn’t be, you’d want to make sure everybody is far enough away that they wouldn’t be hurt in any way. So in my case I just told my staff to go home and then I’ll text them when things are safe.”

Full details of how the gas line was cracked are not yet clear.

(Photo: Regan Hayes)