Fire destroys hundreds of homes

  • 11 years ago
Over 200 homes were gutted in two fires early on Friday morning (April 12) in Myanmar's second biggest city of Mandalay, 658 kilometres (409 miles) north of Yangon, fire officials said.

The houses were mainly built out of wood and bamboo.

Officials said one fire broke out around 0200am local time (1930GMT April 11), and took three hours to extinguish. The second fire broke out at 0545am (2315GMT April 11) and was put out in 30 minutes.

The cause of the two fires is unknown. A Mandalay-based fire service department official said there was an investigation to determine the cause but Myanmar authorities have said they do not suspect arson.

No casualties have been reported so far.

Recent sectarian violence between Buddhists and Muslims in central Myanmar killed at least 43 people last month.

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