LAHORE, Sept 9: Fire broke out at Lahore High Court's record room in the basement of writ branch on Thursday afternoon. A large number of files were damaged in the third such incident this year. Some of the files contained court decisions pertaining to important historical events and persons.

Fire broke out around 4.30pm when the offices of Lahore High Court had closed down and the staff had left. It was put out after a one-hour effort involving fire-fighting units from the city and elsewhere.

Registrar Dost Mohammad Malik has declined to offer comments on the possible cause of the fire saying that an inquiry into the incident has been ordered and that he would be able to offer comments in the light of the inquiry report.

He however said that not much damage was done as all the damaged files contained cases which had already been decided. It may be mentioned here that inquiry reports regarding such incidents have not been made public in the past.