LARKANA, May 25: A fire broke out in the Lahori branch of MCB Bank on Wednesday morning and gutted the building.

Except for the strong room and the ATM, entire branch had been burnt, said Shamasuddain Sangi, regional manager operation of MCB. Cash and other important documents in the strong room were safe, he said.

He said the transaction had been shifted to the CMC branch to avoid inconvenience of account holders.

He said delay in switching off power supply to the bank had caused more damages because the staff concerned had not arrived in time and later it had to be disconnected from the main grid station.

He linked the incident to a short circuit of electricity.

A police official at Civil Lines police station said that manager of the bank branch Fazal Rabi Shaikh had informed them about the fire, saying that it was because of a short circuit and initial losses were assessed at around Rs2.2 million. “We are investigating the incident,” he said.

The ATM, its cash box remained physically intact while its outer structure had been damaged, the regional manager operation said.

The burnt items of the bank included five split air-conditioners, eight LCD monitors, four CPUs, one scanner, four printers, close-circuit camera system, metal detectors and furniture.