A fire that broke out on the Bhrikutimandap premises in Kathmandu at around 3pm on Wednesday has been brought under control.

According to Santosh Singh Rathore, spokesperson for the Kathmandu Valley Police Office, the fire started at a wheelchair warehouse run by the National Federation of Disabled-Nepal near Bhrikutimandap exhibition hall. 

“We are yet to ascertain the cause of the fire but we suspect a short circuit,” said Rathore.

According to Superintendent Dinesh Raj Mainali, firefighters from Kathmandu and Lalitpur were deployed to the incident site to control the fire.

“The fire is under control now after two hours,” said Mainali. “There are no human casualties.”

Dek Raj Bhattrai, president of the National Federation of Disabled who was one of the witnesses to the incident said the fire has caused a huge loss to the federation.

“I was at a tea shop nearby when the fire broke out,” said Bhattrai. “The fire spread rapidly and in no time it engulfed the warehouse.”

According to Bhattrai, the warehouse had over five dozen new wheelchairs, over 400 crutches, and Covid-19 response equipment such as gloves, masks, sanitisers and safety materials given by the World Health Organisation.

“We had stored a large number of old wheelchairs in the warehouse for repair,” he said. “This is a big loss.”

Security personnel from Nepal Army, Nepal Police, Armed Police Force and City Police of Kathmandu Metropolitan City were deployed to control the fire. Fire brigades from Lalitpur, Kathmandu and Bhaktapur and even some water tankers were used to douse the fire.

The damage caused by the fire is yet to be assessed, said police.