BADIN: A fire in the Tando Muhammad Khan Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) office has damaged three rooms and an office storeroom, where ballot boxes and old records were kept, ECP staff said.

ECP official Abdul Qadeer Rajput said the fire had destroyed old records, literature and upcoming local body election records, while records in other rooms including the account office had been salvaged. He added that efforts were under way to control the blaze.

Deputy Commissioner Tando Muhammad Khan Agha Abdul Rahim, who had reached the scene to examine the examine the destruction cause, has ordered an inquiry into the matter and formed a committee to probe the incident.

ECP staff members told local media that the fire had erupted due to an electric short circuit this morning.

Eyewitnesses and local journalists at the site say the fire has engulfed the entire office and destroyed all three rooms. They said the blaze has spread towards the nearby District Accounts Office where two rooms have also been damaged.

As the Tando Muhammad Khan fire tender was out of order, officials called in tenders from Matli, Bulri Shah Karim, Hyderabad, Tando Ghulam Haider and other towns to put out the fire.

The fire was extinguished after six hours of hectic efforts by fire fighting teams.

Also read: Fire destroys records at Karachi Income Tax Office