Fire In Burma's Rangoon Leaves 21 Injured, Nearly 3,000 Homeless

Posted February 26, 2008 EST

Fire In Burma's Rangoon Leaves 21 Injured, Nearly 3,000 Homeless

World - Two major fires in military- ruled Myanmar [Burma] on Monday left at least 21 people injured, nearly 3,000 people homeless and some 1,500 businesses destroyed, state media reported Tuesday. A two-hour fire in northwestern part of Myanmar's largest city Yangon around 7:30 a.m. Monday destroyed or damaged 201 houses and left 2,900 people from 765 household homeless.

A second fire, which raged for six hours after it broke out at 8:20 a.m. in the main business area of Myanmar's second largest city Mandalay, destroyed 1,428 shops, 17 offices and a 59-room computer training centre, the New Light of Myanmar reported.

The Yangon fire began at a house in a nearby village and spread while the fire in Mandalay's biggest shopping district was caused by an electrical short at a shop on the ground floor of a four-story shopping mall, the paper said.

Twenty-one people - four monks, 11 firemen, three men and three women - were injured in the Mandalay blaze.

No one was hurt in the Yangon fire.

Originally published by Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 1442 26 Feb 08.

Written by BBC Monitoring Asia Pacific

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