KOHAT, Aug 7 Seven feeders were damaged when the main grid station caught fire here on Friday, suspending electricity supply to the district and the adjoining tribal area.

Officials said the feeders of Kharmato, OTS Road, sleeper factory, Alizai, Khushalgarh and two of Darra Adamkhel were damaged.

Wapda officials and Rescue 15 personnel rushed to the scene along with the fire brigade. The fire was extinguished in half an hour, but it caused losses of millions of rupees to Wapda.

Pesco executive engineer Muzaffar Khan told Dawn on telephone from the grid station that the fire was caused by overloading. He said he could not give a specific time for restoration of electricity because the fire had also damaged the incoming panel and cable network. But it was expected that power supply through the city-II feeder would be restored by night because it was not badly damaged.

The repair work was yet to be started because the damage was still being assessed after extinguishing the fire and it might take 24 hours to make the whole system functional properly, Mr Muzaffar said.