A fire broke out in the stockroom of a Samsung store in Singapore just one day before the South Korean company is set to unveil its highly-anticipated Galaxy S8 smartphone.
The small fire at the Samsung Experience Store in the AMK Hub shopping mall shut down the shop and affected a few other businesses nearby, according to Channel News Asia. The AMK Hub’s general manager, Andy Kau, told the news outlet that the flames were extinguished by the fire sprinkler “within minutes” and caused no injuries.
Even though the fire was contained quickly, surrounding stores in the mall were forced to temporarily close for safety reasons. “We will be working with the few affected tenants to assist them in resuming their business operations as soon as possible,” Kau said.
Update: Fire breaks out in storeroom of Samsung Experience Store at Ang Mo Kio Hub https://t.co/hn5TSij7ropic.twitter.com/vFVrtuFEt3
— The Straits Times (@straits_times) March 28, 2017
Samsung did not immediately respond to Coins2Day’s request for comment, but released a statement to Channel News Asia. “We are currently assessing the property damage and working closely with the authorities to determine the cause of the fire. The store will remain temporarily closed during this period. We sincerely regret any inconvenience caused.”
Last year, Samsung recalled an estimated 4 million Galaxy Note 7 smartphones after a slew of the devices caught fire due to faulty batteries that would overheat and sometimes burst into flames.
One of Samsung’s factories in China that helped manufacture some of the combustable batteries also battled an inferno in February. While the fire didn’t cause any injuries, it took 110 firefighters and 19 trucks to extinguish it, according to The Telegraph.
Samsung will officially launch its highly anticipated Galaxy S8 smartphone Wednesday amid rumors that the device will include new features such as a larger edge-to-edge screen and gigabit-download speed capability.