Fire engulfs shopping centre in Peshawar’s Saddar area

PESHAWAR: A huge fire engulfed a shopping centre in Peshawar's Saddar area in the early hours of Monday which was brought under control after 13 hours of continuous operation, Geo News reported citing rescue officials.

The rescue officials said that 36 vehicles including water browsers and 130 firefighters were present at the shopping centre to control the fire. They added that the operation would take some time as the blaze was massive. 

The Time Centre Plaza, which is a two-storey building, has about 200 shops including mobile phones, UPS and other electronics shops.

According to the rescue team, the fire engulfed the entire building, causing a loss of millions of rupees. Moreover, the houses that were located near the shopping centre were evacuated.

The rescue officials added that teams from different districts — Khyber, Nowshera, Mardan and Charsadda — were called to the site of the incident to help in the process.

Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Hasan Azhar Hayat is overseeing the operation. The rescue team said that the fire destroyed hundreds of shops.

The rescue spokesperson said that the emergency call was received at 12:45am last night, adding that according to the local people, the fire was started due to a short circuit.

"Four shopkeepers who had entered the market were rescued during the fire," said the spokesperson, adding that the condition of some of the rescue officials injured during the rescue operation is “critical”.

"There was difficulty in dousing the fire due to mobile batteries," said the spokesperson.