HYDERABAD: Electrical and electronic goods stated to be worth nearly Rs10 million were gutted when a big fire broke out in a factory-cum-warehouse on Station Road here late on Monday night.

The fire caused extensive damage to the building and there were fears that the radio base station, commonly known as the mobile phone signal tower, installed atop it could collapse any time.

The fire, believed to have been caused by an electrical short-circuit, broke out at around 11.30pm and was put out in five hours by firemen drawn from the Latifabad and Market fire stations.

The warehouse is located on the first floor of a building, in front of the Hyderabad Municipal Corporation offices, also housing a bank branch on the ground floor.

The warehouse is owned by Hyderabad Electronics Dealers Association chairman Haji Ilyas Malik, according to the association’s general secretary, Ikramuddin Guddu.

Thousands of DVD players, home theatres, LEDs, window air-conditioners and split units and other home appliances were reduced to ashes, witnesses said.

Published in Dawn, October 22nd, 2014