LAHORE, Jan 27: A huge fire broke out in a beverage factory on Guru Mangat Road in Gulberg on Sunday, burning down goods and valuables and damaging its three-storey structure.

However no human loss or injury was reported in the incident, Rescue 1122 Deputy Director Fire Noman Noor told Dawn.

Fire-fighters took four hours to extinguish the blaze and were continuing to perform cooling process till our going into the press at 11pm.

Water vehicles of Water and Sanitation Agency and Parks and Horticulture Authority also assisted fire-fighting teams during operation.

Policemen closed the adjacent road for traffic and aided the rescue workers.

Mr Noor said the blaze erupted in the three-storey block after some cutting and welding work at the ground floor generated sparks which fell on unspecified inflammable material lying there.

He said the flames soon engulfed a roll of bottle labels and later the entire block.

He said as Pepsi manufacturers apparently lacked fire-safety apparatus in the unit the fire-fighters of Rescue 1122 on an emergency call rushed to the spot and battled the flames for hours.

He said their 12 fire vehicles took part in the fire-extinguishing.

Rescue 1122 District Emergency Officer Dr Ahmad Raza said iron bars and pillars were being cut when wielding machine’s sparks fell on plastic bottles lying there and caught fire.

He said the fire burnt the three portions and company offices.

Factory watchman Rashid told Dawn that the fire suddenly broke out in a section of the unit where some offices were situated.

He said the fire forced the management people and staff to lave the property. As every one ran out of the building, no one exactly knew what caused the fire, he said.

Model Town SP (Operations) Awais Malik said loss could not be calculated as rescuers and factory worker were in the process of removing debris.