Huge fire destroys 400 shops in Pakistan
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-02-24 09:14

A huge fire erupted in a commercial district of the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore, killing one person and gutting at least 400 shops, police said.

A Pakistani man looks at burning shops after a fire erupted in a shopping center in Lahore. [AFP]

"The fire, apparently triggered by an electric short circuit, set ablaze several makeshift stalls and later engulfed the main Bhindara plaza," senior police officer Tariq Zafar told AFP.

"The fire has destroyed some 400 shops," he said.

One worker at the plaza died and 30 others, mostly shopkeepers, received burns, he said.

"The fire caused panic in the area. Several students jumped out of their flats in the first floor of the building to save their lives," he said. They have been admitted to the hospital.

Zafar said the fire, in the city's popular commercial neighbourhood of Ichhra, has been brought under control and salvage work was under way.

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