A major fire, which resulted in heavy loss of property, broke out in a timber-market at Leh in the wee hours of 16 March.  Nobody was injured in the fire.

A case FIR No 12/2016 under section 285/RPC has been registered in Police Chowki Housing Colony.

 

According to Police, the information about the fire was received at 1:30 a.m. 

The fire was categorised as "serious'' by the fire department as it spread quickly because of the highly inflammable material, like timber and other scraps, being stored in various makeshift shops in the market.

At least 14 structures, storing timber material, were completely gutted in the fire. One of the affected shopkeepers Stanzin Zotpa, claimed that he incurred losses of timber, machines and many more in the fire. He further informed that most of the shopkeeper lost almost everything including machines, shops and timber. Pending an exact assessment, the total was expected to be worth over a crore.

The fire grew more serious as highly combustible materials were stored in about 14 scrap shops located in the market.

At least 14 fire tenders had to be pressed in service to control the fire. The fire was controlled in about two hours. However, the cooling off operations continued till early morning.

Police and Fire Department both claimed that the fire could have been more serious had it reached the petrol pump which was located just a few shops away at the end of the market. They added proximity of the market to the fire-station helped in controlling the fire and not allowing it to spread further.

The exact reason behind the incident is yet to be ascertained.

Police have registered a case of negligent act endangering public life and are investigating further to ascertain the reason behind the incident.