Tag: Fire

AHMEDABAD - An Indian court on Tuesday convicted 31 people on conspiracy and murder charges over a deadly train fire in 2002 that triggered anti-Muslim rioting in which 2,000 people were killed. The unrest, some of the worst religious violence in India since independence, was sparked after 59 Hindu pilgrims perished in the train fire at Godhra station in the western state of Gujarat.
Hindus in the state blamed the blaze on Muslim protesters at the station, and furious mobs

ADEN/SANAA - The leader of Yemen's secessionist Southern Movement was arrested in Aden and shots were fired at a demonstration in Sanaa on Sunday as unrest hit the impoverished Arab country for a ninth consecutive day. Thousands of people also staged sit-ins in the cities of Ibb and Taiz, demanding the departure of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who renewed his call for opposition parties to pursue a dialogue with the government.
Saleh, a US ally battling a resurgent al Qaeda wing

TUNIS - Tunisian security forces fired in the air on Sunday in a vain attempt to disperse tens of thousands of demonstrators in the capital calling for a new interim government, a Reuters witness said. It was the second straight day of mass protests in the North African country's main city, in defiance of a government ban on rallies, after a lull following the popular uprising last month which overthrew President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali.
After weeks of relative calm, as many as

LAHORE - Despite a lapse of 10 days, many questions continue to hover around the devastating Mochi Gate fire including whether missing persons have died under the rubble, pace of the clean-up operation and compensation to the affectees. The clean-up operation is going on very slow and victims are looking forward to the agreed compensation they are supposed to get.
Shop owners and businessmen have expressed concerns over working of the City District Government Lahore (CDGL). Eight

ABIDJAN - Ivorian security forces fired live bullets and teargas on Saturday to disperse protesters in Abidjan calling for incumbent leader Laurent Gbagbo to step down, wounding at least one of them, witnesses said. His rival, Alassane Ouattara, has called for Egypt-style mass protests to oust Gbagbo, who has refused to step down as leader of the world's top cocoa grower after a Nov 28 presidential election that UN-certified results show Ouattara won.
Witnesses said hundreds of

LAHORE - Nine days after the Shah Alam market fire, smoke still rises from the rubble of the collapsed buildings, Pakistan Today has learnt. Rescue workers are yet to have extinguished the fire. Rescue 1122 officials along with other City District Government agencies have claimed to have removed the debris but are still unable to determine the fire's cause.
Rescue 1122's response is facing question marks as the DG Rescue 1122 had claimed the day after the fire that they had

ISLAMABAD - Signs of a rift have started to appear in the PPP after President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani dropped some "heavyweights" and changed the portfolios of others while shaping the new cabinet.
The intra-party tension appeared on Sunday when Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan said former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had refused to become part of the cabinet when he found out about the arrest warrant for former president Pervez

LAHORE - The City District Government Lahore (CDGL) on Thursday issued a report on reasons for eruption for the fire at the Shah Alam Market on Monday. According to the report, rescue teams reached the spot late, which enabled the fire to engulf nearby buildings.
The report revealed that congested streets of the Shah Alam Market helped spread the fire, which created hurdles for rescue teams in extinguishing it. Illegal chemicals were stored in plazas, the report said adding that

LAHORE -Lahore Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Captain (r) Syed Ahmed Mobin on Thursday directed traffic wardens to provide an easy passage to all ambulances and fire brigades. The CTO said that providing a safe passage to such vehicles would secure lives and properties of people. He directed all sector in-charges, inspectors and wardens to manage a smooth traffic flow around hospitals and launch operations against encroachments.

LAHORE - "We have never seen such a huge fire in our whole lives and it seemed like doomsday," Shah Alam Market traders on Monday. Plazas which caught fire had highly inflammable items stored in them, which helped the fire spread. Traders said that they did not open shops and were worried about their valuables, as the fire was highly-inflammable.
They said that no one had ever thought that such a horrible incident would take place in the area adding that previous fire incidents

LAHORE - Severe traffic jams were witnessed on all adjoining roads to the Main Circular Road due to the fire, which erupted at the Shah Alam Market on Monday. Commuters were irked by the situation, which also affected the Walled City. Congested roads in the Walled City disrupted traffic at various points, as rescuers also faced problems in reaching the spot.
Traffic jams were reportedly caused by people who stopped their vehicles in order to catch a glimpse of the blaze. People

LAHORE - 532 Fire Rescuers graduated at Emergency Services Academy (ESA), Shama Chowk, Ferozepur Road, Lahore in the middle of a heavy shower on Monday. The passing out fire fighters have been recruited and trained for remaining 24 Districts of Punjab under special instructions of Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.
These remaining Districts include Attock, Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar, Chakwal, Gujrat, Hafizabad, Jehlum, Jhang, Kasur, Khanewal, Khushab, Layyah, Lodharan,

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Monday directed the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to immediately provide all necessary equipments and other assistance to extinguish the fire that erupted in a busy market of Lahore.
A fire erupted on early Monday in a busy commercial area of the old part of Lahore city and spread to the adjacent buildings. The rescue operation was hampered because the buildings are located in thickly populated area with narrow

LAHORE - A massive fire gutted at least 11 plazas, two houses and two mosques in Shah Alam Market on Monday afternoon, killing three people, destroying goods worth billions of rupees and forcing people to evacuate houses in the surroundings. Firefighters were struggling to put out the fire until the time this report was filed.
At least 25 people were injured in the incident, Edhi officials said. Per details, the fire started on the ground floor of Bahria Plaza owned by one

PESHAWAR - The security forces on Wednesday said its one soldier was killed and 3 others sustained wounds when the Afghan National Army fired some 10 mortars on a security check post at Ghulam Khan over the Pak-Afghan border some 25 kms from Miranshah in North Waziristan.
No confirmation of the report could be received from Inter-Services Public Relations till the filing of this news report. Afghan authorities were holding Pakistani forces responsible for what they said an

LAHORE - Valuables worth hundreds of thousands of rupees were reduced to ashes when a fire erupted at a soap-manufacturing factory in the Shalimar Town Police Station precincts on Monday. According to details, Muhammad Imran, a resident of the Shalimar Town, owned a soap-manufacturing factory at the Shalimar Link Road in which a fire erupted due to short-circuit.
Rescue 1122 fire fighters reached the spot and extinguished the fire. According to rescue officials, no casualties

LAHORE - Valuables worth Rs 1.5 million were reduced to ashes when a fire erupted in a house located in Defence Police Station precincts on Sunday. According to details, the fire erupted due to short-circuit in Abdul Majeed's house located in 155 S-Block Defence Housing Authority (DHA) close to the residence of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif (240-S) due to which appliances, furniture and valuables were reduced to ashes but no casualties were reported.
According to police,