Bilal Bahadur
KL News Network
Srinagar
On Monday morning fire erupted in congested Buchwara area of Dalgate in Srinagar, damaging at least ten residential houses completely, and another dozen still engulfed in flames.
As soon news about the fire reached Press Enclave, I grabbed my camera and rushed to the spot, some 2 kms from our office.
It took me no time to locate the affected houses, as large smoke, mixed with desperate cries of helpless residents guided me to the spot. It was complete chaos. People were running in all directions, some carrying water in small buckets, trying desperately to douse the powerful flame, while some desperately sought whereabouts of their loves one. In a corner, half a dozen women were crying.
Two women, probably mother and daughter, caught my attention as they were reciting Holy Koran while facing towards the flames. Another woman, whose house was adjacent to the one in flames, was held back by two other women, as she tried to enter the house; probably in a bid to salvage whatever she could. But before she could do anything fire had found a weak spot in her favourite window.
There were at least one dozen fire tenders at the spot, but as most of the houses are made of wood and bricks, and pressed close to each other, it was quite a challenging task. As I left the spot to file picture, firemen were still struggling to bring it under control.
