Three shops, a rented room and two rice mills were cinder into ashes after an accidental fire broke out at around 10 am today morning at Keishmathong Longjam Leirak Machin in Imphal West district. Rice and paddy worth around lakhs of rupees and other house hold and grocery items kept at the shops and the mills were destroyed in the arson. The two rice mills are Imoinu Rice Mill own by RK Sanatomba and RKS Rice Mill owned by Sanatomba’s brother RK Syamanda @ Momba . The three shops and the rented room belongs to Longjam Ongbi Indira Devi. Root of the fire could not be established but firemen who came for rescue operation suggested electric circuit failure as the cause of the fire. Witness said the fire started from one of the grocery and spread towards the mills. A wooden rented room located at the first floor of the shops were also completely burnt in the fire. The scenario would have been even worst had the locals fails to pull out a gas cylinder and threw it to Nambul river. There were no human casualties. Fearing spread of the fire towards southeast, local club members faced hard time shifting the kids of a day care centre located just adjacent to the shops. However, the fire didn’t spread the way. Firemen of the Manipur fire Service who came at the spot extinguished the fire using water cannon and other extinguishers and prevented from causing more destruction. According to a local club volunteer around 200 bags of rice and paddy were destroyed in the fire.
Local MLA L Ibomcha inspected the site today afternoon and shares his pains to the unwanted accident. He later handed over a sum of rupees 10,000 to the local club members as monetary help to the victims.
