No fatalities in Lao capital market blaze

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No one was killed in a massive fire that devoured Lao capital Vientiane's biggest marketplace Thong Khan Kham, a police officer said on Thursday.

The officer from the Vientiane Fire Fighting department told local media it was lucky that nobody lost his or her life in the fire which destroyed over 300 stalls Wednesday evening.

Thong Khan Kham was established in the 1980s and, with a total area of 16,000 to 20,000 square meters, it was the capital's biggest marketplace. However, about 90 percent of the marketplace had been destroyed in the fire, the state-run newspaper Vientiane Times reported.

Xinhua reporters saw store owners fleeing the fire with whatever items they could carry from their stores while local residents evacuated, worried the fire would spread.

Khamlek Phomphachanh, a security guard who worked in the marketplace for almost a decade said that he was turning off the lights at around 8:15 when he heard a woman shouting about a red thing inside the market. Khamlek was shocked when he saw the fire. Though they tried to put off the blaze with extinguishers, Khamlek and his friend were unable to stop its rapid spread.

"The fire began at a stall selling Buddhist alters and shrines, " Khamlek said. "They are made from very light wood which burns easily so the fire spread very quickly."

Over 30 fire trucks from different depots were called in to battle the blaze but efforts were hampered by onlookers, desperate store owners and the confined streets behind the market. It took fire fighters around five hours to bring the fire under control.

Over 40 fires have occurred in Vientiane so far in 2014 including two other market fires.

Authorities have cordoned off the marketplace and started to investigate the exact cause of the fire. Officials have also begun the task of assessing traders losses.

One textile vendor told Vientiane Times that she had lost 125 million Lao kip (about15,000 U.S. dollars) worth of silk products. "I just paid 20 million kip for the next products in my stall to sell for Lao New Year," she said with tears in her eyes. "How will I pay the money back?"

Thong Khan Kham was one of Vientiane's most famous markets where a great variety of goods are sold. Chathabouly district administration office said that trade fairs have been held in the area for a long time and so the district turned the area into Thong Khan Kham marketplace.