Four shops, house reduced to ashes

MANSEHRA: Four shops and a house were gutted and goods worth millions reduced to ashes when a fire broke out in Shinkiari bazaar, officials said on Thursday.

The fire, which apparently broke out from short-circuiting at one shop, rapidly caught adjoining shops and a house. The police and locals rushed to the scene and sprinkled water and sand on the flames. The fire tenders, which reached the venue a little later, put out the fire but goods dumped at the shops and adjoining house were reduced to ashes. “Thanks to locals and fire tender for extinguishing the fire, otherwise it could have spread to more and more shops and houses nearby,” stated Deputy Superintendent of Police Raja Mehboob while talking to journalists. The general stores of Mohammad Ijaz and decoration shops of Mohammad Asif were reduced to ashes. Mazhar Bashir, the president of traders association in Shinkiari, demanded the government to compensate the affected traders. Some traders also lost necklaces, made up of currency notes and which are usually presented as gifts to bridegrooms at weddings.