7 houseboats destroyed in fire at Srinagar’s Nigeen Lake
In a devastating fire, seven houseboats were destroyed at Srinagar’s Nigeen Lake. According to locals, fire started from a houseboat at 2.26 am and within minutes spread to neighbouring houseboats
In a devastating fire, seven houseboats were damaged at Nigeen Lake. According to locals, the fire started from a houseboat at 2.26 am and within minutes spread to neighbouring houseboats. And when the fire tenders of the fire and emergency department reached the spot, the fire had almost left all the houseboats completely damaged. Tourists who were staying in some of the houseboats were rescued to safety. All the houseboats belong to the Badyari family.
Fire and emergency officials said that six fire tenders were involved in dousing the fire. “The estimate of loss and cause of the fire is being ascertained.”
The head of disaster management, Amir Ali said that five houseboats were completely damaged in the fire. “Five houseboats, (near Nigeen Club), were completely damaged in a massive fire in Nigeen Lake. Fire tenders were deployed to contain the fire.”
This is the second fire incident in the houseboats in the recent past, earlier three houseboats got completely damaged in the nearby Dal Lake. Locals alleged that there is no mechanism with the fire and emergency department to tackle these types of incidents, especially in the Dal and Nigeen lakes where hundreds of houseboats are anchored. “We don’t know how the fire started and within minutes engulfed all seven houseboats anchored near the Nigeen club. All attempts to control the fire proved futile,” said Shareefa Begum, whose family lost a houseboat in the fire. “We couldn’t save anything. For us, it’s a big tragedy as now tourists had started returning to our houseboats.”
Another houseboat owner said that some tourists were staying in these houseboats when the fire started but they were rescued timely by locals. “These houseboats belonged to six brothers of the Badyari family. Our loss is in crores.”
Nigeen Lake is located adjacent to Dal Lake and is frequented by foreign and local tourists due to its serene environs. Due to the pandemic, very few tourists visited the place in the last couple of years. However, in the past several months the tourist influx had increased in Kashmir and most of the houseboats were booked by domestic tourists.