29 April 2005	Friday	19 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1426

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LAHORE, April 28: Scores of houses were evacuated when chemicals stored in a godown exploded and caught fire on Bund Road in Sanda on Thursday. However, no human loss was reported, although the fire was very dangerous. “It took the fire tenders more than six hours to put out the blaze,” SP Zubair Nawaz said. He said due legal action would be taken against the godown owners, who had stored the chemicals in a residential area. “We have taken some staffers of the firm into custody.”

The godown set up by a firm, Farooq Traders, had deadly chemicals stored in it, the police said. A barrel full of chemicals exploded when labourers tried to open it up. It caught fire and later engulfed several other barrels containing chemicals.

The godown caught fire in phases, which provided the people inside it an opportunity to save their lives by running helter skelter, the SP said.

The fire engulfed the godown on several kanals, and the blaze kept on billowing for hours. Thick smoke travelled to the areas far from the site, and caused choking problems and panic among the people.

The SP said several fire-fighting crew rushed to the scene besides other civic agencies, including the bomb disposal squad and civil defence personnel and helped police control the situation.