More than 40 rented rooms housing contractual labourers were gutted in a massive fire that broke out at Patarkuchi near Guwahati’s Basistha area on Friday.

Along with the rooms, property worth around 12 lakhs was burnt down in the fire. Three vehicles including a motorcycle were also gutted in the fire. Locals reported hearing cylinder explosions.

A resident of the locality said that all the houses were made up of bamboo which lead to the quick spread.

He said, "Around 25-30 houses have been burnt down as of now. We heard sounds of a cylinder exploding as well."

In addition, a woman aged around 50 years old and a minor girl aged around 10 years, who were trapped in the fire, were rescued. However, there was no loss of lives reported.

A former police officer, Nabin Chandra Bora had rented out the rooms, in one of which the fire broke out. The fire also spread to some nearby newly-built rooms belonging to one Labanya Kalita.

Meanwhile, as fire tenders were rushing to the spot, one of them fell off the road, blocking the path. Other fire tenders had to reroute and reach the spot.

By the time the fire tenders reached the spot, locals had almost brought the fire under control.

The fire is thought to have broken out from one of the rooms rented by Bora where a resident was cooking.

A police official said, “We received information at around 8.30 – 9 am about a fire in which 10-15 houses were burning. All the rooms were made of bamboo.”

He added, “Fire tenders, four from Dispur, two from Lokhra, and one each from Panbazar, Chandmari and Sonapur rushed to the spot. The fire has been brought under control and we will assess the damages now.”

“A woman named Shazina Khatun, aged around 50 years and a minor girl aged 8-10 years were trapped in the fire. They have been successfully rescued,” the official further informed.

A resident, Ainul Haque, whose room was gutted, said, “There were around 40 rooms here. When I came at around 9.30 am, everything was already gone. By motorcycle was burnt down in the fire as well.”

Another resident, Tehzal Ali, said, “We had all gone out for our works. When we heard of the fire, we came to see everything was burnt down. All our important documents were destroyed in the fire.”