Sunsari, March 18

A human settlement comprising 70 houses belonging to 46 families turned into ashes due to a fire at Madhuban of Barahachhetra Municipality-11 in Sunsari last night.

Amarlal Urab and Prabhu Sardar received burn injuries when an LP gas cylinder exploded abruptly while they were trying to vacate their houses. Urab is receiving treatment at Inaruwa Hospital while Sardar is being treated at Nobel Hospital, Birtanagar, said District Police Office Sunsari.

The fire had started from Puran Chaudhary’s cowshed due to short circuit at 8:00pm. It was doused after five hours at 1:00am. The blaze spread across the locality after the cylinder burst into flames. As there was no fire engine in the municipality, it took more than two hours for the fire extinguishers from Inaruwa, Itahari and Dharan to reach the site. “We would not have to incur such a huge loss, if the fire engines had arrived on time,” said Urab.

Puran said the inferno spread rapidly due to the 11,000 volt high tension wire and strong wind. “We could not shut the power supply off and the gas cylinders burst one after another,” he said. The victims have been left in a lurch as they have nothing left except the clothes on their bodies. “The rescue teams could not reach the incident site on time due to darkness and we were rendered completely helpless,” said locals.

Dozens of cattle were also burnt. Sunsari Assistant Chief District Officer Anuj Bhandari said property worth around Rs 13.7 million was estimated to have been destroyed.

As the entire settlement turned into ashes, all the victims have been taking shelter in tents.

According to Assistant CDO Bhandari, district administration office provided Rs 5,000 per family as relief amount while other organisations, including Nepal Red Cross Society, Sunsari chapter, provided tents, clothes, blankets and foodstuff.  Province 1 Minister of Forest Jagadish Kusiyat and Barahachhetra Municipality Mayor Nilam Khanal reached the incident site and distributed relief to the victims today.

(UPDATED)

Fire destroys entire settlement in Sunsari

ITAHARI: Property worth around Rs 6 million were destroyed in a fire that gutted the entire Ikrahi settlement in Baraha Kshetra Municipality-11 of Sunsari district on Saturday night.

The fire gutted 82 houses made with corrugated zinc sheets and thatched roofs in the settlement, leaving 62 families homeless, informed Kedar Bista, chairperson of ward-11 in the municipality. However, the full details of the property destroyed in the fire will take some more time, chair Bista added.

However, no human casualties have been reported so far in the fire that injured some children and killed two cattle heads.

According to Chair Bista, the exact cause of the fire or where the fire started from has yet to be ascertained.

Police with the help of Nepal Army, Armed Police Force, locals and four fire engines from Itahari, Dharan, Inuruwa and Rajbiraj  brought the blaze under control at around 1:00 am yesterday, informed Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Narayan Prasad Chimauriya at the District Police Office, Sunsari.

All the clothes, utensils and foods housed inside were burned to cinders and immediate relief is needed for the fire victims, DSP Chimauriya added.

Meanwhile, the municipality is preparing to provide emergency relief to the fire victims, informed Lilam Khanal, chief of Baraha Kshetra Municipality.

Further investigation into the case is underway, said police.