Wood stalls, shops gutted by Jalalabad fire

JALALABAD (PAN): Fires concurrently broke out at two places in the eastern city of Jalalabad, the capital of Nangahar province, gutting four wood stalls and 10 shops on Sunday, police said.

The blazes in the Chaparhar bus stand and a commercial plaza — Amanzda Tower — resulted from an electric shortcut and carelessness, deputy police chief Col. Ibadullah Talwar told Pajhwok News.

The wood stalls were reduced to ashes in the Chaparhar bus stand area and the 10 shops were gutted in the Bali neighbourhood, he said. Strong winds in the city exacerbated the fires that firefighters took hours to douse with the help of 10 water tankers.

No one was harmed in the incidents. But stalls and shop owners suffered million of afghanis in losses, the police officer added. Firefighters from the police headquarters, the Afghan army, municipality and agriculture department rushed to the sites to extinguish the fires.

The affected shopkeepers complained their goods worth millions of afghanis were gutted. They said there were a number of shops selling carpets and sport equipment in the four-storey plaza.

Sher Wali, a wood stall owner, said two stalls were destroyed by the fire and as many others partially torched. He accused the firefighters of reaching the site late and huge losses were inflicted on them as a result.

ma/mud

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