Lasjan blaze turns marriage celebrations into mourning

Srinagar, Oct 23: Joy turned into sorrow for a family at Lasjan area on the city outskirts when their house was gutted during the marriage ceremony.

An official of Fire and Emergency Services said that they received the call about the incident at around 8:10 p.m. on Tuesday. “We rushed multiple fire tenders from the various fire stations in the vicinity. The fire was brought under control and prevented from spreading, but the three-storey house belonging to Ghulam Nabi Mir was gutted, “an official said, adding that the cause of the fire was a short circuit, as per the initial investigation.

The incident occurred when locals were participating in wedding celebrations. Within no time, the wedding venue was reduced to ashes. Relatives, neighbours and guests tried their best to douse off the flames but the fire spread quickly.

“We had finished serving guests and were preparing to send off the groom with Baraat. Suddenly some children raised a hue and cry as they saw flames. We tried to douse of the fire, but its intensity was too much to be controlled. This family is inconsolable, and they lost everything in the fire on such a special day,” said Muhammad Ramzan, a relative.

“We send off the groom wearing slippers at midnight amid chaos,” he said.

The family members said that despite limited resources, they had invested their hard-earned money into preparing the house for the big event.

“The groom left with the baraat amid the devastation. We all know how much family works hard for this day to ensure that their beloveds are married. Carpenters worked for months to prepare the house, and our family spent hard-earned money. Now nothing is left at a time when a new family member arrived here,” a cousin of the groom said.

The whole neighbourhood slipped into chaos when they saw the celebratory function turning into ashes in no time. They said that the relatives had bought gifts and expensive garlands and were preparing to welcome the bride, who was supposed to arrive in a few hours.

“The marriage turned into mourning. We all were crying on seeing such a horrific incident on the day of the wedding. These are not rich people and have invested their hard-earned money in the house and the function. Be it wedding-related clothes, gold, copper utensils, or other furniture, everything was lost. We appeal to authorities to provide all possible help to this family,” said a neighbour.