False fire alarm triggers panic at IKEA store in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, March 3 (IANS) A fire alarm at the IKEA store here Sunday night triggered panic and caused everyone inside to flee out before it was discovered to be false, police said.The alarm sent panic among hundreds of customers and employees, who ran out of the store located in Hitec City, the information technology hub."A false alarm broke out at about 8 p.m. in the IKEA store in Hyderabad due to which customers and co-workers had to be evacuated for some minutes as a safety procedure. Everyone is back in the building safely and business is back to normal," an IKEA spokesperson said.Police denied that there was any fire in the store. A police official said people ran out in panic as the fire alarm went off and it later proved to be false.As police said somebody in the cellar pressed the fire alarm button, an IKEA spokesperson said they were investigating to identify the person responsible.Swedish home furnishing multinational IKEA opened its first India store here in August last year.Thousands of people visit the store and the restaurant every day.
--IANS ms/vd