Fire guts Universal Industries in Mzuzu

A biscuit and confectionary shop  belonging to Universal Industries in Mzuzu was gutted in fire on Wednesday.

The fire started at around lunch hour when all the workers in the shop had gone for lunch except the manager and his junior.

One of the workers at depot  told Nyasa Times that one staff Mathews Banda noticed the fire which emanated from the main switch which is in the back stores of the shop.

The fire moved swiftly and attacked the cashier’s office and later the whole shop was attacked by fire.

Fire fighters from Mzuzu city assembly responded in time and managed to control the fire which had not spread to other shops.

One of the senior police officers who were present at the scene Anny Kaunda said the police came in time to control the situation as more people were salivating to loot the shop.

According to Kaunda one bag of money was rescued and the other bag  containing undisclosed amount went missing on the process of rescuing and the police has since taken 5 workers who were rescuing the bags for interrogation.

The Manager at the shop Christopher Ngwira said the cause of the fire was not immediately established as the investigations are still under way and also to establish the extent of the damage.

There was no immediate comment from the Escom officials .

Escom has been blamed in most recent fire incidences.