FAISALABAD: More than a dozen people including women and children jumped from the first floor of an ice cream parlour near Clock Tower intersection’s Aminpur Bazaar when a fire erupted and engulfed the building in a jiffy on Saturday.

The fire the cause of which could not immediately be ascertained wreaked havoc on the shop and also damaged some other sale points.

Rescue 1122 spokesperson Faisal Zia conjectured there was a possibility of a cylinder blast leading to fire.

As the customers on the first floor of the ice cream parlour failed to find an exit in a state of panic, they jumped out of the window and ended up on the blankets workers of a shop nearby spread to save them.

Eyewitnesses said there was a hue and cry as women and children jumped to save their lives.

A team of the Rescue 1122 reached the market and took two hours to control the fire. They said the owners of the shops close to the ice cream parlour frantically took their valuables away.

The incident panicked the traders and passersby and created a traffic mess at Clock Tower intersection which connects eight bazaars.

This is the third fire incident in Faisalabad in the last few days. On Thursday last, two persons Fauzia and Zahid were burnt alive when a fire erupted in Sitara Market of Factory Area. The flames spread to more than one dozen cloth shops inflicting loss of million of rupees on the shopkeepers.

Deputy Commissioner Salman Ghani has formed an eight-member committee to investigate the cause of fire at Factory Area market and ascertain the loss of shopkeepers for compensation.

A fire erupted at a shop in the same market on Saturday and Rescue 1122 managed to douse it within half an hour.

State Minister for Water and Power Abid Sher Ali visited the market and assured the shopkeepers that the government would compensate them. He said traders would also be made part of the committee probing the cause of the fire.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018