A fire that swept through a Herat Customs facility on Wednesday incurred financial losses of millions of dollars for traders, who also battled for hours to extinguish the blaze.Herat Customs officials said the fire started at about midday in the clearing area but quickly spread.As trucks and goods went up in flames, customs officials appealed to the public to help douse the flames alongside the fire department.Firefighters took five hours to bring the blaze under control.Ismatullah Yaser, the deputy head of Herat Customs, said: &Unfortunately, a fire broke out at noon on Wednesday … the cause has not yet been determined.&Najibullah, a trader, said: &Our goods were worth about $200,000 that caught fire.&There is a possibility that all our property will be burned.&Zalmi Bahadri, another affected businessman, said: &The fire has been controlled and all our craftsmen who had facilities, including myself, who had a few tanks, are currently engaged in firefighting.&Officials at Herat Customs say that it is not yet clear how much was lost but said financial losses were huge.
They also said the cause of the fire had not yet been determined.Traders however spoke out and criticized the customs department for not having sufficient facilities for them while waiting for customs clearance and for not having mechanisms in place to prevent a fire of this nature.The post Fire at Herat Customs incurs huge financial losses first appeared on Ariana News.