E.idertsog: A Revision and Resolution for the 448 Victims of the Narantuul Fire

Two months ago a fire broke out in the grocery section of the international shopping center, Narantuul, and almost 500 vendors lost their assets, jobs and suffered emotional losses as well. Officials worked diligently to determine the cause of the fire. We interviewed the head of the Victimization Department of UMBG Aggravated Crime, E.Idertsog, about the findings.

-The final result of the investigation for the cause of the fire has been released. How did officials work on making the final decision?

-We have just received the final result of the investigation. People are very interested in the decision. According to the findings of expert investigators, a commission of three experts from the Emergency Management Agency, the final result was pronounced on October 24. Looking back at the scene, a fire broke out in the Narantuul International Shopping Center on August 23, at 6:10 a.m., and the first call about the fire was made to the Emergency Management Agency at 6:21 a.m. Despite damage to the roof, it was more likely that the fire broke out on the 1st and 2nd floors. It was difficult to extinguish the fire and save the goods because the middle of the metal roof had fallen.The whole market was damaged, so it was difficult to find out how the electricity was working. But the electricity board was recovered. To put out the fire, our investigators, firemen, and contractors worked for 33 hours.

-What was the main cause of the fire? There are many versions of the story.

-There is no evidence that the fire was set consciously, and fire did not break out as the result of an explosion. It is believed that the fire broke out because of a short in an electricity cable in a cafeteria that was located inside the shopping center.

The fire spread quickly, and the location was the reason for the blaze. The fire didn’t break out because of dynamite, gasoline or other explosive materials, but many products present in the market fueled the fire quickly, including gas, perfumes, candles, and large 18 liter containers of butter. Also, when the roof caved in, it crashed into mechanical items. We took a piece of the roof to send to special experts and their findings were similar to our fire analysts.

-Why did the results take so long?

-I have to say that we have been working very hard on this. We did research and revisions six times. Actually, in every analysis, we invited representatives of the vendors and got 53 different possible causes that were submitted to experts.

-In an...