“We’ve lost everything,” said Merna Camille, the sales and shop manager of KiKis Caprice boutique located at the back of the Pirates Arms building.

Dark smoke could be seen in the sky in Victoria, particularly within the vicinity of the Pirates Arms building at around 1pm on Saturday.  A fire had gutted the KiKis Caprice boutique located at the back of the Pirates Arms building.

Speaking to Seychelles NATION, Ms Camille said she left the shop at around 12.45pm and on her way home at Ma Joie she received a phone call from someone who told her get out of the shop as the Pirates Arms building was on fire.

“I went back to the Pirates Arms building and saw a big fire inside the KiKis Caprice boutique,” said Ms Camille.

She added that in the shop there were R17,900 in cash belonging to the Seychelles Land Transport Agency for the sale of parking coupons, important documents, and contents worth more than R2 million.

 

The Seychelles Fire and Rescue Services Agency (SFRSA) was called to the scene to put out the fire.

This was the second fire in two weeks at the Pirates Arms building. On the night of Monday February 15, the SFRSA put out a fire in the cold store of the Pirates Arms restaurant.

On Saturday, other tenants of the Pirates Arms building were busy vacating their premises as demolition work on the building will start tomorrow.

The Seychelles Pension Fund (SPF) has said it expects that the demolition work will end early April and this will give way to a modern complex, on which construction work will start in August. The new building is expected to take three years to complete.

Once completed, the US $30.8 million project will accommodate shops and restaurants on the ground floor, with offices and other businesses on the four other floors with a multi-storey car park at the back.

Meanwhile, Seychelles NATION has also learned that fire completely destroyed a house made of corrugated iron sheet on Saturday at Capucins, Anse Aux Pins.

The police are investigating these two cases.