Dubai: A mall-wide blackout suspended operations and left thousands in the dark at Dubai Mall on Monday night.

The nearly two-hour power outage, the first to hit the world’s largest shopping centre by gross leasable area since it opened its doors in 2008, prompted all shops and restaurants to shut their doors.

The power outage hit the mall at 7.13 pm when escalators, cash tills and power-driven machinery came to a complete halt at the more than 1,000 commercial establishments, leaving only the mall’s emergency exit lights and shoppers’ mobile phone flashlights on.

The incident, however, did not cause panic among mall-goers, as police personnel immediately arrived at the scene — and the back-up power for elevators worked.

It was the second major power service interruption to hit Downtown Burj Khalifa in one week. Just last week, an hour-long outage left three residential towers opposite Burj Khalifa in darkness, prompting tenants to vacate their premises.

The latest outage, however, did not affect the Burj Khalifa, the world's tallest tower attached to the mall, and Souq Al Bahar, a traditional market in Dubai's Old Town, were not affected.

Minutes after the blackout, retail operators asked visitors and shoppers to vacate the premises, as cashiers at boutiques and waiters at restaurants stopped serving customers, and security staff cordoned the entrance to the mall from the Dubai Metro side.

Power was restored at 8.47pm.

In a statement, the 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."

. @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 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.

"Dewa would like to thank everyone who worked 1qon the matter, especially Dubai Police, Dubai Civil Defence, Dubai Ambulance Corporation and The Media Office, as well as Dewa's working teams, the Mall management and staff, and retail outlet owners."

Mall management's statement

The mall management said they regretted the incident.

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.

“We are investigating the incident with the concerned authorities and are taking all measures to ensure uninterrupted operations of the mall.”

Earlier report:

Here's a scene inside the mall as lights went out, and emergency lighting kicked in.



The Dubai Media Office twitted about the power outage, adding that competent authorities are working to restore power quickly and get things back to normal in minutes.

Dubai Mall spokesperson

“We are working with the concerned authorities to address the situation. We regret the inconvenience caused and thank our visitors for their patience,” a mall spokesperson said in a statement.

Though the blackout left many shoppers in the dark, many used their mobile phone LED lights to keep the mall illuminated. Emergency back-up lights as the well as the elevators and automatic exit doors were working on back-up power.

Dubai Mall experiencing power outage; concerned authorities are working to restore power in a few minutes. — Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) April 24, 2017



Emergency workers were on site and a Civil Defence personnel were seen outside the mall. A mobile hospital was also on site, and security personnel were seen.

Power outage at Dubai Mall. Everyone still shopping with the flashlights on their phones. Oh technology. #dubaimall #poweroutage — Nikki Holder (@Nikki_Holder) April 24, 2017

Many mall visitors, however, continued to shop — with their flashlights. A reader has uploaded this video from inside the mall.

Shoppers

Gulf News reader Klaudia Isabella described the scene inside the sprawling shopping complex: "Very calm, people are walking towards exits, shops are closed to enter. Mall starts getting empty. The power is still off."

Dubai mall at the moment 😂 people walking around with flash lights. What's happening 😱 pic.twitter.com/la9mDeKVXS— Amna (@Amote2ah) April 24, 2017



A mall visitor told Gulf News that mall visitors are calmly heading outside, the elevators and emergency exits are working and that the neighbouring Souq Al Bahar complex and Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower attached to the mall, are not affected by the power failure.

Assistance

Dubai Mall staff assisted people to go out of the elevators. Emergency lights kicked in while exits and elevators were also working, shoppers reported.

The power outage is the first reported at the mall. Sally, a sales clerk, told Gulf News: “I’ve been working in this mall and this is the first time it happened.”

Retail shops had suspended all payment transactions and asked shoppers to leave the premises.

“It’s been dark for around 50 minutes, they did the fountain show at 7pm, then everything went completely dark," said a mall shopper.

"We thought it was part of show. I was inside the mall, everyone was screaming because they thought it was part of the show, they were surprised. There was no panic, I feel sad for people waiting for show. Lots of backup lights we can still see, that's good,” said Spanish expatriate Luis C.

A Gulf News reader said: “I was at the (Dubai) Metro station with my sister when it happened. It got really crowded when people started leaving through the Metro,” said Indian expatriate Sakshi L.

Visitors who went to At The Top, a view deck on Burj Khalifa tower, said the tower was not affected.



Last week, April 17, an hour-long power outage hit a three-tower residential block opposite Burj Khalifa.

The power failure took place at around 11.20pm at The Lofts Towers, prompting the residents to vacate their flats.

[Gulf News staff members Cleofe Maceda, Ahmed Ramzan, Ali Al Shouk, Mary Achkhanian, Irish Eden Belleza and Janice Ponce De Leon contributed to this report]