Four injured as inferno destroys entire Peshawar mobile phone market
Pakistan
Firefighters still busy in controlling the fire; Nearby houses evacuated
PESHAWAR (Dunya News/Web Desk) – Four persons seriously were injured as inferno engulfed an entire shopping plaza in the Saddar area of Peshawar on Monday, forcing the authorities to evacuate the residents from the nearby houses.
There are around 200 shops in the building, which have been destroyed, rescue officials say, as they spent hours on controlling the fire so that it does not affect to the adjacent buildings in the congested neighbourhood.
Electricity short circuit caused the fire in a shop, which later spread to the entire building, housing the traders of mobile phones and their accessories.
Officials say thousands of phone batteries and other flammable items were stored in the building, resulting in explosions and multiplying the intensity of fire.
As the local authorities didn’t have required vehicles and equipment, they immediately sought assistance from the nearby districts of Nowshera, Mardan and Khyber, while the army air force personnel were also called in to assist in dousing the inferno.
The four persons injured in the incidents severe burns while trying to save their belongings, as traders have suffered huge losses to the tune of millions of rupees.
As witnessed again and again in similar incidents across, the firefighters found it difficult to extinguish the inferno there was only one entrance to the building – raising serious questions about the administration’s failure to enforce the building by-laws.
With the firefighters doing their best to extinguish the inferno, which started in early hours on Monday, Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Hassan Azhar Hayat visited the area to monitor the developments.
Karachi has experienced multiple fire incidents in recent months, which again exposed the lack of infrastructure to deal with infernos in high-rise buildings and the government’s inability to ensure implementation building by-laws that require multiple exists and provision of basic fire extinguishing equipment to deal with any emergency.
