35 shops, hotel gutted in massive fire near Agra fort

Agra: A fire that broke out in a shoe godown in Sadar Bhatti locality spread to a hotel located close to Agra fort and other shops nearby on Wednesday. All tourists, including foreigners, and hotel staff were evacuated safely from the hotel.

According to police, a fire that broke out due to short circuit in a shoe godown in Mohini building soon spread to the hotel ‘Jigyasa Palace’ situated on the third floor causing extensive damage. Police said that no casualty was reported in the incident.

According to police sources, there were around 70 shops in the market out of which 35 were gutted. Several fire tenders were pressed into action who managed to put out the flames after hours of struggle and rescue the stranded tourists and hotel staff.

According to an eyewitness, Arshad, who runs a shop nearby, the wall of the building was demolished to rescue the stranded persons.

Station Head Officer (SHO) of Mantola police station, Shiv Kumar Verma, said that the incident occurred at around 7 am. Though there was no casualty in the incident, the shopkeepers incurred huge losses, he added.