ISLAMABAD: A fire erupted in the G-6 Sunday market on Wednesday, causing losses to several stallholders.

Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI) officials said no one was hurt in the fire, which was said to have broken out in a secondhand goods store and then spread to other shops. Smoke could be seen rising from Aabpara Market.

Firefighters extinguished the flames within 15 minutes. By then, the fire had spread to seven stalls of which four were gutted.

There are conflicting reports regarding the cause of the fire. Municipal Administration Director Shafi Marwat said the fire broke out because of a nearby garbage fire, but some firefighters said that the fire was caused by uninterrupted power supply (UPS) batteries that were being used for lighting.

But Mr Marwat insisted that he had collected information from concerned officials and the cause of the fire was the garbage fire.

“There is a pile of garbage where people from the community centre throw garbage near the stalls in question. Someone set the garbage on fire on Wednesday, which spread to the stalls in the Sunday bazaar,” he said.

He added that the garbage pile near the stalls was also recently reported on the citizens’ portal.

When asked about the losses incurred by the fire, Mr Marwat said the fire had caused some losses to four stallholders.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2019