Short-circuit: Over 20 stores gutted in Liaquatabad’s garments market

Fire department has yet to ascertain actual cause

KARACHI: Around two dozen shops were burnt to the ground on Friday after a fire engulfed a market in Liaquatabad. No loss of life was reported.

The fire reportedly broke out in the wee hours of Friday. Though the actual cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained, fire brigade officials said flames apparently erupted overnight at a cloth storehouse following a short-circuit and later spread to other stores in the market.

The fire department spokesperson said as many as 20 shops were gutted in the ensuing inferno, while flames also damaged nearly two dozen more shops. The spokesperson explained that 10 firefighting vehicles and a water bowser took part in the operation, adding that firefighters faced problems while controlling the blaze owing to the narrow streets. "The rescuers managed to control the fire by breaking the locks of the shops," he said. Apart from a large crowd of onlookers, as news spread about the fire, shop owners reached the site which also caused difficulty for rescue officials in extinguishing the blaze.

However, an extra contingent of police reached the site and succeeded in dispersing the crowd. Police officials said they did not see any criminal act behind the fire and no one had complained about any kind of threat or extortion to shopkeepers.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2015.