150 houses destroyed in Grandpass fire

by Wathsala Gamage and Vijayani Edirisinghe

Nearly 150 houses near the Madampitiya garbage dumping ground in Grandpass were destroyed in a major fire which broke out around 8.00 a.m. yesterday.

An elderly woman who had been stuck inside one of the houses was evacuated to safety by firemen. One small child had gone missing during the blaze.

Nearly 1,000 displaced residents have been accommodated at St. Anthony's Tamil Vidyalaya and Sanghabodhi Vidyalaya.

The Fire Brigade assisted by the Air Force and Colombo Port Fire Units brought the fire under control by 10 a.m. yesterday.

The dwellings, mostly shanties, were completely destroyed in the inferno along with the people's belongings.

A Colombo Fire Brigade spokesman said an electrical short circuit may have caused the fire.

Most houses considered to be unauthorised structures have no legal electricity connections, but many seem to have allegedly tapped electricity through various illegal means.