Fire at BMICH premises; Nobody injured

by Uditha Kumarasinghe

Nobody was injured due to the fire that broke out at a temporary structure at the BMICH where the Sahasak Nimavum 2013 exhibition was scheduled to be opened yesterday.

The cause for the fire is yet to be identified. The CID and the Government Analyst are now conducting separate investigations on the incident to ascertain the actual causes for the fire, Technology, Research and Atomic Energy Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka told the Sunday Observer yesterday.

The Minister said the fire broke out when he was at the BMICH premises to open the Sahasak Nimavum 2013 exhibition organised by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC).

“We informed the Fire Brigade and they rushed to the scene and doused the fire,” he said. Despite the incident, the exhibition will continue at the BMICH till December 2. The exhibition for schoolchildren will also continue in the BMICH premises, he said.

The fire broke out at a temporary structure for the Media Centre which was refurbished for CHOGM.

The media centre was completely destroyed due to the fire. The Minister said nearly 100 stalls of inventors too had been destroyed. We have to estimate the total damage caused by the fire. The fire had spread rapidly as the canopy was made of plastic and polythene. The Ministry would take remedial measures to provide relief to the inventors after the the damage caused to the exhibits is estimated.

The SLIC would also provide assistance to the inventors to develop their products.