Reyaz Rashid
Uri: At least six shops were gutted in massive blaze besides property and goods worth lakhs of rupees was reduced to ashes in main market Boniyar of Uri in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Monday late evening .
The shop, housed in a double-story shopping complex in Boniyar market were completely destroyed in the fire besides goods and property worth lakhs was reduced to ashes, said a local resident.
As per the shopkeepers, the fire broke out at around 8 pm late evening and engulfed the whole shopping complex, damaging at least six shops.
Locals and police, Army rushed to the spot along with fire tenders to doused the fire flames but massive fire went out of control destroyed the all the shops in the complex.
Sources said fire tenders were rushed from different parts of the district to control the leaping flames, clearly visible from entire market. However, there was no loss of life or injury to anyone in the incident, they said.
Confirming the fire incident, a police officer said that the cause of the fire and the loss to the property were being ascertained.
A senior officer of Fire and Emergency Department said that a massive fire was set off probably by the lightning storm in which around twenty shops were gutted.
He said that several fire tenders from various emergency stations in Baramulla worked in coordination to douse off the flames. “It was after hectic efforts that the fire was extinguished.” Meanwhile, an official said that the police have registered a case in this regard, while the exact losses were yet to be ascertained
“The cause of fire was not known immediately, while further investigation has been taken up,” he said.
The affected shops include readymade and DTP (shops).