National
Kapilvastu fire: 59 houses destroyed
Fifty-nine thatched roof houses were reduced to cinders in a massive fire at Shitalpur in Shivaraj Municipality-10 on Wednesday.Manoj Paudel
Fifty-nine thatched roof houses were reduced to cinders in a massive fire at Shitalpur in Shivaraj Municipality-10 on Wednesday.
The fire broke out from the house of Mannan Miya and soon spread over the clustered settlement, police said. Satya Narayan Chamar, a local who sustained burn injuries in the incident, is receiving treatment at a local health facility. Twenty-two goats were burnt alive in the incident.
The security personnel and the villagers struggled to douse the fire fuelled by strong wind. Two fire engines which arrived from Taulihawa and Krishnanagar finally put out the fire after three hours.
According to Inspector Jhabindra Bhattarai of the Area Police Office in Chandrauta, properties worth Rs 7 million were destroyed in the incident.
There are around 200 houses in the settlement. All the houses in the settlement located on the southern side of the main road were completely destroyed. The fire broke out from the eastern part of the settlement and the wind spread it towards west in no time, said the victims.
Meanwhile, the district natural disaster relief committee distributed Rs5,000 each to the affected families. “We have requested the villagers whose houses escaped the disaster to provide the victims with food and shelter,” said Chief District Officer Bishnu Prasad Dhakal. The incident comes less than 48 hours after 56 huts were destroyed by fire in a Dalit settlement at Simaraha in Siraha district on Monday night.
Woman succumbs to burn injuries
A 50-year-old woman died in a house fire at Kawasoti-5 in the district on Tuesday night. Police identified the victim as Koshobi Kumal of Devisthan, Kawasoti.
The victim sustained critical burn injuries as she tried to salvage her belongings from the house on fire. She died while being rushed to Kathmandu for treatment.
The house was destroyed in the fire which is believed to have been triggered by a short circuit.