December 21, 2007	Friday	Zilhaj 10, 1428

LAHORE, Dec 20: A 12-year-old boy and a buffalo died and household items worth thousands of rupees reduced to ashes in a fire erupting in at least seven shanties near Begumkot Chowk, Shahdara, early on Thursday morning.

The station house officer concerned told Dawn the incident occurred when the inmates made a fire in one of the shanties to keep themselves warm against an excessively cold on Wednesday night.

Irfan, son of Saiyn Muhammad, a resident of the slum area, got trapped in the fire and got burnt severely. He died on the spot. A buffalo was also burnt to death in the fire which later engulfed at least six more shanties, gutting them all along with the household items.

An overhead electricity wire also caught the fire, eye witnesses said.

According to police, fire-fighters took at least 30 minutes to extinguish the blaze.

PLAZA FIRE: Carpets, foam, cloth and related material worth millions of rupees were reduced to ashes when a fire broke out in the basement of a three-storey plaza on Wandala Road in Shahdara on Wednesday night.

It took fire-fighters at least six hours to extinguish the fire which engulfed the whole plaza and gutted all shops and valuables inside them.

According to the Rescue 1122 Fire services officials, cause of the fire was said to be short-circuit.

The officials complained that the panicked owners of some of the shops made it difficult for them to overcome the fire. They also blamed the poor construction and design of the building for the difficulties they faced in putting out the fire. “At least 100 rescuers, along with 12 fire engines, two rescue vehicles, one water sprayer and five ambulances took part in the operation. An elevated platform was also used to reach 60-feet high building,” Rescue 1122 spokesman said, adding the high synthetic material which caught the fire made the operation more difficult.

LOOTED: Two robbers looted a professor in Faisal Town police precinct on Thursday.

Prof Saifullah, a resident of GOR-5, told police he was travelling by his car to buy sacrificial animal when the gun-totting robbers stopped him and snatched Rs20,000, a cell phone, an ATM card and some important documents from him and fled away.

The police registered a case.

In another incident, two robbers riding a motorcycle, stopped Shahryar near his house in Yasrab Colony in Factory Area and deprived him of Rs11,000 and two cell phones. The police have registered a case.