Blaze burns down 100 houses in Myanglung, no deaths reported

December 9, 2002
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No deaths or injuries have been reported so far after the breaking out of a fire that raged across Myanglung market in Terathum, a hilly and remote district in eastern Nepal at 6:00 pm Sunday gutting around 100 houses and causing the loss of property worth millions, Radio Nepal reported.

The police and the army together with the locals failed to bring the fire under control until midnight, the radio quoted Chief District Officer Hari Lochan Sharma as saying. The fire, which is thought to have been ignited from a short circuit after somebody forgot to switch off an iron inside a locked room has destroyed the Nepal Bank Limited office building, Agriculture Development Bank office building, the revenue office and few other government offices.

As Dhankuta, the nearest town from Myanglung, the district headquarters of Terathum is 150 kilometers away; there are slim chances of the fire being put off immediately by bringing over fire fighters, Sharma said.

The army has been trying to isolate the houses by carrying out explosions but the situation has not improved. The locals have started evacuating their houses and many of them have started fleeing with their belongings.