Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): A massive fire broke out at shops located in Gautam Nagar market in Bhopal during the wee hours of Wednesday. The fire that erupted at a restaurant at 3:45 a.m. due to a short circuit further spread to adjacent three shops.
Goods worth lakhs of rupees were gutted in the incident. The police and fire brigade rushed to the spot, and it took nearly four hours to douse the enraging flames.
According to Gautam Nagar police, the fire broke out in the Gautam Nagar market, located close to the Chetak Bridge, on Wednesday morning. The ground floor where the fire broke out housed a grocery store, a restaurant, and a gym. A short circuit ensued in the restaurant at around 3:45, as per investigating officials, which resulted in a fire outbreak. The fire eventually spread to the gym and the grocery store too. On the first floor of the building was a flat, where a family of five members resided.
The Gautam Nagar police said that three out of five members were evacuated with ease, while two women from the family were trapped. The fire fighters, after receiving information, rushed to the scene and rescued both trapped women in time too. Fortunately, no casualties were reported in the incident.
Goods worth Rs 10 lakh gutted: shop owner
The grocery store operator, named Prafull Goyal, told the Free Press that the entire shop was gutted in the fire, owing to which he bore a loss of almost Rs 10 lakh. A firefighter named Shahnawaz said that it took almost 3.5 hours to douse off the flames, and six fire tenders were involved in the fire extinguishing operation.
Panic grips locality upon reverberation of fire tenders’ sirens: police
Investigating officials at the Gautam Nagar police station said that all the people residing in close proximity to the scene, who were asleep inside their houses, panicked upon hearing the sound of fire tenders’ sirens and flocked the scene in huge numbers.
