Pathanamthitta, Thursday 16 Oct 2008: A row of shops in Kozhanchery town near here was gutted in a fire in the wee hours today. No casualty was reported but the loss could run into lakhs of rupees as the shops consumed by the blaze included three jewelleries, police sources said. Electrical short-circuit was believed to be the cause of fire.

The fire was extinguished by five units of fire force called from the district headquarters, preventing the flame from spreading to other blocks of shops in the town full of very old buildings, sources said.