On the day after an explosion damaged the third floor of R&M Plaza on San Fernando’s High Street, fire investigators returned to the scene Tuesday to unravel what caused the Monday evening blast, with the building’s owner standing by to observe the probe. The commercial hub stayed fully closed Wednesday, leaving scores of tenants waiting for official clearance from the Trinidad and Tobago Fire Service before they can re-enter to evaluate harm to their business spaces.
Kiran Singh, president of the Greater San Fernando Area Chamber of Commerce and owner of R&M Plaza, told reporters that as of Tuesday, investigators had not reached a conclusion on the explosion’s origin, pushing back on unconfirmed reports that an unaddressed gas leak was to blame. Singh confirmed that roughly 10 days before the blast, maintenance contractors from Ramco were called to the building’s food court on an emergency call after staff detected a faint gas odor. The team resolved the issue on site, he said, and no additional gas leaks were detected after the repair. As a standard safety measure, the entire building’s gas supply was shut off immediately after Monday’s explosion, he added.
Singh outlined the layout of the three-story building: the ground and middle floors hold a range of retail outlets, while the third floor houses both the food court and Skyline Pub, the exact site where the explosion occurred. To date, only the pub has been confirmed as sustaining major structural and interior damage from the blast.
The explosion struck just after 5 p.m. on Monday, blowing out glass panels along the third floor’s front facade and sending shards and other debris falling onto the sidewalk and High Street directly adjacent to the Penal taxi stand. One person was injured in the incident: a woman who runs a clothing store inside the plaza, who was cut by flying shattered glass. She was transported to a local hospital for treatment, received medical care for her wounds, and was discharged the same day.
Singh confirmed the building is fully covered by insurance, and expressed cautious optimism that operations could restart as early as the end of this week. “We’re just waiting for investigators to complete their work before we can get access back to the building. Once they wrap up their probe, they’ll hand the property back to us so we can start cleaning up and repairing the damage,” he said, adding “We don’t have a full estimate of the total damage yet, and the plaza will stay closed until the Fire Service gives us formal approval to reopen. We hope that by the end of the week operations can resume—the sooner, the better.” He also noted that San Fernando Mayor Robert Parris has reached out to offer the city government’s full support to tenants and the building owner in the wake of the incident.
For tenants waiting out the closure, uncertainty about lost revenue looms large, especially ahead of the upcoming Divali holiday. Malini Paltoo, owner of Malini’s High Fashion, a ground-floor clothing outlet, stood on the High Street sidewalk Tuesday watching investigators work, and shared her concern about how an extended shutdown would impact her small business and her two employees. Paltoo said she and her staff were just wrapping up work for the day when the explosion hit, and is eager to get back to business. “I am a bit worried because I do not want the store to be closed for too long,” she told reporters. “This is a time when events are taking place on the Hindu calendar and Divali is around the corner, so I hope to reopen soon.”
The blast has also disrupted local transit operations: the Penal/Debe taxi stand, which sits directly across from the plaza, has been temporarily relocated to the opposite side of High Street. Taxi drivers reported significant initial disruptions to their daily routes and passenger pickups at the new site. “The place is a bit congested right now, because this is a one-way street. I am hoping for a speedy return to normal operations,” said local driver Ivan Roopnarine. Fellow driver Anderson Mendez added, “This morning there was a lot of inconvenience in this relocation. But we are still waiting to see how it will affect us with our passengers.”