IMPHAL, Oct 22: A major fire gutted a rented house of 12 shops and 10 rooms at Kwakeithel Ningthemkol near Imphal College along Imphal Airport road under Lamphel Police Station Monday morning. The fire destroyed properties including five LPG cylinders worth about Rs 24 lakh despite attempt of five fire tenders to save them.
The fire that occurred at around 8 am was caused by an electric circuit that swiftly caught an LPG gas burner which went up in flames inside a chicken centre, Manipur Fire Service said. The house was a semi-pucca of a single-storey with 10 separate families on the first floor and 12 shops on the ground floor. The house was completely destroyed in the fire.
Witnesses said loud noise of explosions apparently caused by the gas cylinders were heard as the blaze engulfed the house. Five fire tenders from Manipur Fire Service rushed to the site and tried to douse the fire but it completely destroyed the house and all the properties. Later, the fire tenders put out the fire.
The 12 shops razed to the ground in the fire include one grocery shop, four computer shops, one scooter workshop, one pork centre, one chicken centre, one stationery shop, one barber shop, one tea stall and another godown of iron scrap and waste iron materials.
Thokchom Haripriya, owner of the chicken centre told reporters she saw a sudden short circuit inside a switch box in her shop which immediately caught an LPG gas burner and burst into flames as she along with a butcher boy ran out of the shop.
Most of the family members upstairs of the house were not at the rooms as they went out for Durga pujah festival. The rented house is owned by one Takshelllambam Shanti, a resident of Kwakeithel Mayai Koibi.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/shops-house-gutted-in-fire/
