Four shops gutted in fire

Four shops were gutted in a fire that broke out near the Traffic junction at Sulthan Bathery town in the district in the early hours on Monday.

There was, however, no casualty. Three shops opposite to the Panchayat bus stand and one shop opposite to the panchayat office were gutted in the incident, police said.

An estimated loss of Rs 50 lakh was occurred in the incidents, the shop owners said.

When a thick smoke aroused from the traffic junction area at 3.a.m the local people and the taxi drivers alerted the police and the Fire and Rescue personnel. Fire tenders were rushed to the spot and the blaze was put out after two hours of hard work with the help of local people, they said.

The cause of the fire was not immediately known, the police said.

A team of revenue personnel led by District Collector T.Bhaskaran and P.P. Poulose, Thahasildar, Sulthan Bathery taluk, visited the place.