GUJAR KHAN: Intense fire erupted in dozens of kiosks alongside GT Road on Thursday night, engulfing larger areas, the eyewitnesses confirmed.

There were stalls of fruit, household merchandise and pottery run by small traders, and according to eyewitnesses, the ‘sudden fire’ breaking out in any of the kiosks near the cattle market of Rawat spread quite fast due to strong winds and almost all the kiosks, numbering 60 to 80, were engulfed and completely destroyed.

According to available details, the fire erupted abruptly in one of the kiosks and strong gusts of wind at the moment of filing this report, spread it up to lines of kiosks at Kallar Syedan road at the junction of Rawat bus bay.

The fire tenders reached the spot, but the trampoline covered stalls, plastic-made items, wooden packing and shelves all turned into fuel for the fierce fire.

However, efforts were underway to control the inferno by the fire traders. The small traders suffered colossal financial losses as all their merchandise turned into ashes, a spectator of the event said.

Mohammad Salamat, an affected of the inferno in Rawat, told Dawn that his crockery items worth 4.5 million were burnt to ashes.

Mohammad Yasir, another trader, said that his two stalls of garments were completely burnt and his garments worth 1 million were burnt. He further told that the fire broke out suddenly at about 10.15 pm on Thursday night and spread with speed in the lanes of kiosks due to the winds. A visit to the site revealed that over 100 kiosks were burnt to ashes as a large area was gutted, and the heaps of burnt items, charred fruits, sugar cane crushing machines and all paraphernalia were lying in ruins. Smoke was still spewing from the burnt debris.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2026