Kathmandu, February 2

A blaze caused by sparks from used cans of deodorants engulfed a scrap collection centre at Bakhundol of Lalitpur Metropolitan City today. The massive fire that lasted for over two hours left the locals panic-stricken.

Scrap materials like plastics, paper, iron and electronic goods at the scrap centre were reduced to ashes by the fire. Preliminary investigation showed that the fire broke from inflammable gas trapped inside deodorant cans as the owner of the scrap centre was hammering to flatten them. The owner Nandu Jaiswal of Motihari Bihar in India was hammering the air-tight deodorant cans and suddenly there were sparks which immediately turned into massive fire.

Senior Superintendent of Police Tek Prasad Rai, Head of Metropolitan Police Range, Lalitpur said, “Sparks from the cans must have caught some nearby flammable materials resulting in the fire.”

Narayan Byanjankar, a fire fighter at Lalitpur Fire Brigade said there were hundreds of deodorant cans at the site, which blasted continuously while they were working to extinguish the fire. Byanjankar said supposedly empty deodorant cans hold ample of inflammable gas, which can easily cause fire if not handled properly. Owner Jaiswal suffered injuries while running away from the scrap centre after it caught fire. Dharmanath Jaiswal, who was at the centre to sell scrap materials suffered burn injuries. He was helping the owner to flatten the deodorant cans.

After the centre caught fire, the duo had sought police help by dialling 100. Fire fighters at Lalitpur Fire Brigade said they were informed about the fire at 11:15am and had reached the site in 15 minutes. Six fire fighting trucks deployed from fire departments in Bhaktapur, Kathmandu and from the Nepali Army’s fire department had doused the fire.