LAHORE: Flames engulfed a major portion of Lunda Bazaar in Naulakha on Wednesday evening reducing at least 12 shops to ashes.

More than 18 firefighting vehicles of Punjab Emergency Services Rescue 1122 received a call about the fire at 5:17pm and responded in eight minutes.

According to initial inquiries, the fire erupted in a cloth market at the bazaar when a transformer exploded due to high voltage and emitted sparks that fell on nearby shops. A large quantity of cloth and cotton had been dumped in the shops that caught fire resulting in clouds of smoke.

More than 1,000 people gathered in the narrow street of the market some of whom started looting the shops, which created hindrance to the rescue operation. Rescue officials called police who dispersed the crowd so the operation could continue; it was going on till the filing of this report.

The rescue officials also called firefighting vehicles from nearby district to control the raging fire.

Emergency Officer Dr Ahmed told Dawn that narrow streets of the market resulted in a delay in controlling the fire. He said a crowd rushed to the spot and started looting cloth and valuables from shops, which forced them to call police.

He said a large quantity of cotton bales had been dumped in the shops, which caught fire, and they had taken extra measures to douse it. The loss would be estimated after an investigation, he added.

Ahmed said no one was injured in the fire, adding the market had suffered a huge loss because the shops had been gutted completely.

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2016