A massive fire tore through Sallaghari-based Yeti Carpet factory in Itapa of Bhaktapur Municipality-2 on Saturday night. 

Factory Manager Dharmendra Yadav said the blaze erupted at around 11 pm on Saturday after an electricity transformer exploded next to the factory causing the fire to spread rapidly. It was doused nearly eight hours after it started. 

Watch video and photos by Prakash Chandra Timilsina 

The carpet factory owned by industrialist Anil Kedia, and run in two concrete buildings and five tin-roofed houses, was reduced to cinder.  

According to DSP Krishna Prasain at Metropolitan Police Division Bhaktapur, the fire was extinguished at around 7:30 this morning by a combine effort of eight fire engines, security personnel from Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and Nepal Army. Local tankers were also employed to supply water for dousing the fire, police said. 

Two fire engines from Juddha Barun Yantra, two from Nepal Army, two from Kathmandu Metropolitan City, one from Lalitpur Metropolitan City, one from Nepal Police were used to put out the fire. 

Manager Yadav said the fire consumed the polyfibre, chemical, colours, two vehicles, diesel store and DFO oil store. He said the fire has caused an estimated damage of property worth over Rs1.5 billion. Over 100 workers were employed in the factory.  

The incident happened on the same night when a fire at a cattle farm in Gokarneshowr, Kathmandu, left scores of people injured and killed 42 cows.