Dongdok Campus Market fire damage estimated at 4.5 billion kip

Dongdok Campus Market fire damage estimated at 4.5 billion kip

(KPL) F ire damage of Dongdok Campus Market, Xaythany district, Vientiane Capital has been estimated at 4.5 billion kip, affecting mainly cloth, cosmetic, and grocery shops.

Twenty six shops, representing over thirty per cent of shops in the market were engulfed by fire. Two firefighters have been injured by the flames triggered by an electric short circuit.

"Restoration is going on at the moment but I can't tell yet how much it would cost nor how long it would take,"said yesterday Deputy Village Head of Dongdok Ms. Chanthaphone Phakonekham.

It took around an hour for the tankers reach the place, and several hours to bring the fire under control. Eight tankers have been deployed to suppress the flames. The fire incident took place around 9 pm on May 22, 2013, when most shop owners had left the market, according to eye witnesses.

"There was some extent of luckiness as the fire flared at 9 pm when most people were yet to sleep. If the fire took place at 12 pm when most people were in their deep sleeping it would have been much more difficult to recruit people to calm it down," said an eye witness.

"The fire was not too terrible when it first took place. Many people used extinguishers to stop it, while some others employed hammers to break the door, but it was secured with a high quality padlock. Then we heard several explosions that frightened the people making them retreat," said Mrs. Chanh, a shop owner.

The fire was caused by an electrical short circuit of decorative lights at a cloth shop whose owner was identified as Ms. Ly. As she left the shop, she switched the light on to illuminate and decorate the Buddha image shelf but something went wrong, according to Dongdok village head Mr. Bounlieng Khamphilom.

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