Earlier at 2.30pm, a CNA reporter spotted at least nine SCDF vehicles parked outside Golden Mile Tower. A few firefighters were seen walking out of the building.
Mr Jimmy Myo, a kitchen helper at Golden Mile Thien Kee steamboat restaurant in the basement of the building, said that the fire alarm rang at about 1.30pm. He was told by his boss to evacuate and roughly 11 employees then made their way to the entrance of the building.
Mr Myo, 36, said he heard that there had been a fire at the sixth-floor car park with around six cars burning. The staff waited for around 20 minutes before returning to their restaurant but were asked to evacuate again.
Madam Aiyn, who runs a convenience store at the entrance of Golden Mile Tower said she rushed down from her home nearby upon hearing of the fire from her sister-in-law.
“She told me huge smoke and fire. I told her, ‘No, no, they will be burning the paper,” Madam Ayin said.
“Then she showed me the photo. I just got panicked and came running.”
She said her husband, who was already at the store, was not aware of the fire but smelled smoke later on.
She arrived at about 1pm but was asked to evacuate the premises and closed shop close to 3pm.
A manager of a nightclub at the basement of Golden Mile Tower said he arrived at between 1pm and 2pm, only for security personnel to ask him to evacuate the premises.
The manager, who only wanted to be known as Mr Jacky, was seen waiting outside the building at about 3pm. He told CNA that he was worried the nightclub might be flooded.
“After I came here, I heard people say there was an explosion,” Mr Jacky said in Mandarin.
“If there is a flood then it’s hard to do business. The customers cannot come in.”His club was supposed to open at 3.30pm but was delayed due to the fire.
When tenants were allowed into the building at about 3.45pm, cleaners were seen mopping up puddles of water in the basement.