Eight houses gutted in Taplejung blaze

PANCHTHAR: As many as eight houses were gutted in a blaze in Phungling Bazaar, Taplejung district headquarters, on Friday night.

 

With the help of local residents, security personnel started to contain the fire at around 1:00 am. It has been reported that the security personnel deployed from Nepal Police, Nepali Army and Armed Police Force doused the fire at around 5:00 am.

Moreover, a fire engine was brought from neighbouring Panchthar district to contain the blaze, according to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Siddha Raj Neupane at Panchthar District Police Office.

According to police, the fire gutted a four-storey house belonging to Khem KC, two houses with the name Bhattarai Bandhu, and houses belonging to Netra Karki and Tek Bahadur Lechharbo. Another five-storey house belonging to Chandra Prasad Niroula was partly destroyed.

The rescuers and firefighters had to destroy two houses in order to take the fire under control. Likewise, 11 shops located on the ground floor of the houses have also incurred huge losses, said Taplejung's Chief District Officer (CDO) Dorendra Niroula.

Although it is said that the fire started from an empty house with a corrugated metal roof at around 10:30 pm, security personnel are yet to identify the house-owner and determine the cause of the blaze.