Mosque, house damaged in separate fire incidents

CHITRAL: In two separate fire incidents, a mosque and a house were damaged in Kalash valley and Reshun village on Tuesday, locals told ChitralToday.

In the first incident that occurred in the Karakal village of Bumburate, a newly-constructed mosque was gutted when a fire broke out inside it at about 2am on Tuesday. The cause of the fire was sated to be short circuiting.

The fire was so huge, that the local people, Chitral Scouts and Levies personnel could not put out the flames. However, they succeeded in checking the flames from spreading to nearby houses.

In the second fire incident that was also caused by short circuiting, the house of Hidayat Jan, son of Pin Jan, in Reshun was gutted along with household items. The affected  family appealed to the government and NGOs to help them in reconstruct their house.

Due to mostly poor electrical appliances and wiring, short circuiting leading to fires have become a routine across Chitral. Scores of houses, shops and other properties were gutted and household items damaged in these fires in the recent years.

The government has not put in place any firefighting services while in town areas rescue and firefighters are unable to reach the affected houses due to accessibility issues.

 

Reporting Muhkam Uddin Ayuni