RAHIM YAR KHAN, March 4: Cotton worth over Rs10 million lying in a ginning mills compound was burnt on Monday. The fire was still raging at the time of filing this report at 9pm.

Witnesses said the blaze erupted after a rocket fired by members of a marriage party riding a bus hit cotton stocks lying in the open at the model cotton factory owned by Khwaja Muzaffar Mahmood.

As the projectile hit the raw cotton, it caught fire in a flash. Though fire brigade lorries reached the spot soon after receiving the SOS call, fire-fighters were still struggling.

Dumping the silver fibre in the open is always risky. Delay in buying by textile sector exposes it to the danger for a longer period.