Short circuit: In AJK, 15 shops gutted in market fire

MUZAFFARABAD: Over 15 shops were gutted when a fire erupted due to a short circuit in Trar Khel area of District Pallandri in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) on Sunday. “The fire erupted at around 3pm. No loss of life was reported,” Trarkhal Assistant Commissioner Waleed Anwer told The Express Tribune on phone. The hardware market near a mosque were burnt to ashes as the fire tenders could not reach the mountainous area on time, which are some 40 kilometers away from Trarkhal. Locals and police tried to extinguish the fire before firefighters arrived. The affected shop owners have demanded compensation. They said if the town had a fire department, it could have been extinguished in time and their shops would have been saved.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st,  2016.