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by Stan Aron

Carrefour Lingostière could re-open next week

There still hasn’t been an official comment on the cause of the collapse

Following the collapse of a 300 square metre section of the Carrefour Lingostiere shopping centre, the site’s owners have decided to tear down the south entrance as well. The shopping centre will remain closed until the building is fitted with two new entrances.

While there still hasn’t been an official comment on the cause of the collapse of the north entrance of the Carrefour Lingostiere shopping centre, the store’s owner, the Klepierre group, decided to also tear down the south entrance, which is identical to the 300 square metre collapsed section.

The incident, which occurred on Wednesday 5th February at around 5.30pm, miraculously only injured two people.

Though nothing seems to indicate the south entrance is at any risk, Alpes Maritimes prefect cabinet director Jehan Eric Winckler told Nice Matin it was a wise decision to demolish it. “Many people wouldn’t have wanted to walk through it anymore,” he said.

Emergency services were rushed to the scene on 5th February, thankfully only two people were injured and no one was killed

Meanwhile, Robert Arribas, CGT union representative at Carrefour Lingostiere, toldNice Matin that the collapse could have been prevented. “We’ve been warning them for two years. The water leaks in the ceiling were becoming more and more prevalent.”

Carrefour management denies any link between record rainfall and the accident, however. “The few leaks following the heavy rain of these past days have nothing to do with the collapse of the shopping centre. The security commission inspected the building in December 2013 and cleared the use of the centre for the next two years,” they told Nice Matin.

Around 700 employees learned yesterday at an extraordinary general meeting that they will be paid in full until Saturday and be back behind the tills by next week.

For the Carrefour group, time is of the essence as this hypermarket on the RD 6202 Route de Digne north of Nice is one of the five most profitable for the group in France. Every day of closure is costing thousands of euros. Carrefour is not the only employer at the shopping centre, which is estimated to employ around 1,200 people in total.

Also published on the Riviera Times Online