Posted by: damikattu November 2, 2009
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KATHMANDU, Oct 26: A massive fire broke out in a building at Maru
Ganeshsthan, Basantapur, on Monday afternoon, leaving 14 persons
injured.
According to an eyewitness, the fire engulfed the
five-storey building after a gas stove in the Kasthamandap Mo Mo Center
exploded at approximately 4:00 p.m. The fire completely damaged the eatery.
Photo by Narayan Wagle
The
injured, including five females, mostly seemed to have received burns
in limbs. They were rushed to Bir Hospital for treatment. Five students
from Camelia School, Kuleshwar, who had entered the restaurant after
buying books, were also caught in the fire and were later found
receiving treatment at the hospital in school uniforms.
The
sudden fire made the persons inside the restaurant jump off the windows
to save their lives. The house is owned by Ashok Tuladhar and rented by
Ghamanda Bahadur Karki to run the eatery. Karki himself jumped out from
the third floor and his wife, who followed him, is also injured,
according to Santa Bir Lama, an employee at the eatery.
The
patients are out of danger, Dr Pandav Baral, emergency ward in-charge
of the hospital said. Niraj Tamang, a restaurant staff, who was found
at the hospital receiving treatment for normal burn at hands, said he
ignited the stove after the owner, who was fully aware of the leaking
gas pipe, ordered to do it.
Thick clouds of smoke surrounded the
area as the Kathmandu Fire Brigade along with teams from Nepal Army´s
Shardul Battalion and Nepal Police controlled the fire. The Lalitpur
Fire Brigade later joined the scene.
Though three fire engines
from the Kathmandu Brigade reached the spot within five minutes after
the incident, it wasn´t able to douse the fire immediately as the
Electricity Authority office took much time to disconnect power-supply,
said Basudev Henguju, a senior fire-fighter of the Kathmandu Fire
Brigade.
A total of 36 Brigade personnel were mobilized to
extinguish the fire and it took them over one and a half hour and six
tankers of water to finish with. Delay in power-cut and the inflammable
oily stuff at the ground floor´s sweet store made the flames rise up,
added Henguju.