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Victor Maphosa Herald Correspondent
PROPERTY worth thousands of dollars was destroyed by fire at the Indian Embassy in Harare yesterday morning.

One employee was injured during the inferno which was extinguished by the Harare Fire Brigade.

Speaking to The Herald after the incident, the embassy’s Second Secretary and Head Chancery Mr Abhijiti Biswas said he suspects an electrical fault to be the cause of the fire.

“When the fire started, I was not around, those who were present called me and I had to rush back. When I got here, the rooms were on fire and there was smoke everywhere.

“We suspect that an electrical fault caused the fire and nothing else, the fire was so intense, the fire brigade team managed to put it out,” he said.

“One of our employees, an Indian national, was trapped in one of the rooms during the accident. However, he was rescued, but sustained some injuries, we had to rush him to a local hospital where he is receiving treatment. He is now in a stable condition,” he said.

He could not quantify the extent of the damage.

A tour of the Embassy revealed that most accessories including computers in the reception and other offices were destroyed.

Mr Biswas said it will take time to restore normalcy at the embassy.

“We suffered a great loss because of this fire. A lot of important documents were destroyed, property was burnt to ashes. Some of the computers were destroyed, but we also managed to rescue some.

“It will take us a considerable time to restore everything which was destroyed. We are just glad that no one was killed by the fire,” he said.

Recently, traders at a new shopping mall at corner Robert Mugabe Road and Chinhoyi Street in the capital were left counting their losses after goods worth thousands of dollars were burnt to ashes in a fire accident.

No one died in the incident.

The cause of the fire was uncertain although traders suspect an electrical fault could have caused the inferno.