TEAM: At 4.40 pm a small fire broke out in rubbish in the underground vehicle park of Building 23 in the Olympic Village causing smoke to rise through the building.
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Chan said that during her July 25 meeting with Chinese President Xi Jingping, they had discussed the importance of controlling mosquito-borne diseases, and praised China’s role in the fight against the Ebola epidemic that hit western Africa in late 2013.
“There has been a small fire in the basement of the team building in the Olympic Village”. All are present and accounted for.
Australian committee spokesman Mike Tancred was not having it.
Kitty Chiller, the head of the Australian delegation, had complained on Sunday about exposed wiring and blocked toilets, saying accommodation at the Village was “not safe or ready” for the Games, which open on August 5.
Other countries such as Italy, Argentina and New Zealand had also expressed concerns.
Australia finally moved staff and athletes into the village on Wednesday, three days after the official opening on Sunday.
Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes on Wednesday met Australian delegation head Kitty Chiller and apologized to dozens of athletes for the slipshod preparations. “That was a mistake of the organisation”.
“We cleared all 23 floors of the building”, he added.
Following the incident on Friday, the AOC released a statement confirming that “approximately 100 athletes and officials were evacuated in an orderly and controlled fashion” after an emergency plan was activated.
“We hadn’t been advised that the fire alarms were silenced, so how we found out was basically smoke in the corridors and stairwells”.
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The fire was extinguished by the Fire Brigade and team members were allowed back into the building after about 30 minutes.
