Huge blaze guts several shops in Lahore's Hafeez Center

LAHORE: A huge fire erupted at Hafeez Center shopping plaza in Lahore’s Gulberg area on Sunday morning which gutted several shops and valuables worth millions.

The fire fighting teams have so far become unsuccessful to douse the blaze and busy in evacuating people in the building, whereas, some people remained trapped at the roof terrace.

Rescue officials summoned more vehicles of the fire brigade and other equipment from other districts.

On the other hand, traders started taking out valuable items including computers, laptops and mobile phones from their shops on their own.

Punjab Chief Minister Usman Buzdar took notice of the incident and ordered authorities to utilise all resources for dousing the fire at earliest. He asked local administration and Rescue 1122 to take every necessary step for saving the lives and assets of the citizens.

The chief minister said first priority is to safely evacuate people trapped inside the shopping plaza and those stranded on the roof of the building. He also directed authorities to submit report over the incident.