Property worth millions of rupees was destroyed in a fire that broke out on the fifth floor of the Share Market Complex building in the Capital’s Putalisadak on Monday morning. There were no casualties. 

The fire started from the canteen of Nepal International Educational Consultancy after a gas leak, police said. It quickly spread through the floor and engulfed the building.

The fire which started around 9am was eventually brought under control by four fire engines from Juddha Barun Yantra after four hours.

“Around 35 staffers were on the fifth floor including 20 students who were taking SAT classes in the morning. Suddenly, a big ball of fire swept through the canteen on the terrace. I asked everyone to rush down and we all survived,” said Bhuwan Prasain, head of the department at the counselling section of the consultancy firm.

“It could have been much worse but the timely response from the fire fighters prevented further damage,” he added.

The traffic on Putalisadak was disrupted as a large crowd milled around the area.

Furniture, equipment of IT section including computers turned into ashes. Officials at the consultancy claim they lost property worth around Rs 5 million.

“We had stored documents of students who have applied for colleges in the United States, Australia, Britain and other countries. Sadly, we lost all our records in the fire,” said Bal Krishna Dahal, chief executive of the consultancy firm.

Kishore Kumar Bhattarai, former chief of the Juddha Barun Yontra Karyalaya, said the consultancy firm was running the classes in the unauthorised structures. “The consultancy was operating from the infrastructure built on the terrace.

The structures were made of woods and highly flammable materials with no fire safety whatsoever,” said Bhattrai, an officer at the Disaster Management Department of the Kathmandu Metropolitan City.    

With the onset of dry season, fire related incidents have increased in the country. A total of 430 cases of fire were reported throughout the country between January 1 and February 25, according to the information posted on the Nepal Disaster Risk Reduction portal of the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Fire-related incidents over the past two months have claimed 29 lives and destroyed properties, including 301 houses, worth Rs300 million.