Three shops were completely gutted by a fire that broke out in Swadeshi Market in Sadar Bazar on Saturday night. The shops, sold various items such as artificial jewellery, tableware, gifts and toys, were burnt to ashes in an inferno around 7:50 pm.
Fire tenders along with 27 vehicles of fire brigade reached the site and extinguished the fire after struggling for hours; however, goods worth millions of rupees were completely destroyed.
The other shops, adjacent to these shops, remained safe. Fire-fighters say that the cause of the fire has yet to be ascertained. Meanwhile, no causality was reported during the incident.
The eyewitnesses said that they saw fire flames in one shop which spread in other two shops within a few minutes. The shopkeepers somehow managed to escape and called the fire services which reached the spot immediately.
“As the area is congested, there is always possibility of more loss in such incidents but the alertness of the Fire department helped in
dousing the fire within a few hours of the incident,” said a shopkeeper.