Lahore's New Anarkali plaza inferno controlled

LAHORE: After nearly nine hours, the fire that broke out in the plaza in New Anarkali was controlled Monday afternoon. 

The inferno engulfed 26 shops in the basement and two on the ground floor.

The shopkeepers also helped the rescue teams and firefighters in putting out the fire.

Rescue sources had announced at around 8 AM that the inferno was under control. However, the blaze continued to spread from the basement to the third floor of the plaza. 

According to rescue sources, the fire broke out due to a short circuit in the early hours of Monday. The blaze engulfed garment shops in the plaza.

Eight fire brigades were summoned to the site and were busy extinguishing the fire.

Heavy clouds of smoke could be seen rising from the plaza.  

The traders and shopkeepers at the plaza were irked when the firefighters did not put out the inferno even after a few hours.

The shopkeepers told the media the fire brigade staff did not have complete equipment, including an oxygen cylinder, to control the inferno. However, the rescue teams maintained they were trying to put out the fire without caring for their lives. 

A few days ago, a fire broke out in a shoe factory in Timber Market on Ravi Road. Eight fire trucks were used to douse the fire for two and a half hours, before it was contained, rescue sources had said.

Earlier, fire broke out in Anarkali bazaar and took nine hours after 25 fire trucks took part in extinguishing it. At least two people were injured and more than a dozen shops were burned down, as a blaze swept through the third floor of a building in Lahore`s Anarkali bazaar.