SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- A massive fire gutted at least 80 residential houses in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Sunday.
No loss of life was reported in the incident.
The fire broke out on Saturday evening in the remote village of Sukhnai in Kishtwar district, about 284 km southeast of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.
"Last evening a devastating fire gutted 80 residential houses at village Sukhnai here," Ghulam Nabi Balwan, deputy commissioner Kishtwar told Xinhua. "The fire has razed whole village to ground except few structures."
Officials said the fire also gutted a school, two social welfare centers, a mosque and a sufi shrine in the village.
Reports said over a dozen cattle were perished in the blaze.
Owing to remoteness of the village, locals said no fire tenders could reach the village to douse the flame that engulfed it.
Balwan said the fire is said to have started from a hayrick and engulfed the houses that were mostly made of wood.
Police officials have registered a case and initiated investigations to ascertain the cause of fire.
Chances of fire in villages and cites of Indian-controlled Kashmir are usually high as people usually ignore safety standards vis-a-vis fire and store fuel and combustible materials in a haphazard manner.
