Over 250 shanties gutted in massive fire in Jammu

A massive fire fuelled by high intensity winds gutted over 250 shanties of labourers in the city's Trikutanagar area early Monday, officials said.

No casualties were reported in the blaze, they said.

The fire broke out in the Maratha cluster near Trikutnagar Railway Station area around 0100 hours and rapidly spread to the entire area due to high intensity winds, according to locals.

The Army distributed food and relief material to over 150 civilians, an official said.

The Maratha cluster mainly housed migrant labourers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, besides some Rohingyas.

"Suddenly flames started erupting from the Bengali shanties at around 1 am. They spread fast due to winds and turned into a massive fire", Raju, a labourer hailing from Bihar said.

Sarojni Devi of West Bengal, who lost all her possessions in the blaze, said there are over 400-500 shanties in the area.

The fire was doused after over three hours, the officials said.