Fire fighters' hectic effort to douse flame on a microbus, which caught fire from its battery while moving in Panchlaish area of Chittagong city. Photo: Anurup Kanti Das

Three vehicles were gutted in a fire at Panchlaish in the port city yesterday.
Sources said the fire originated from batteries of a running microbus in front of Panchlaish Police Station and spread quickly to the whole microbus.
The driver jumped out of the microbus immediately after the vehicle caught fire. There was no passenger in it, witnesses said.
The fire immediately engulfed a private car and a microbus standing along the road, damaging the vehicles.
Two fire fighting units from Chawk Bazar Fire Station rushed to the spot and put out the fire after a half-an-hour efforts.
Sub-Inspector Anwar Uddin of Panchlaish Police Station said vehicular movements on the Panchlaish-Muradpur road remained snapped for an hour due to the fire incident.
Humayun Kabir of Chawk Bazar Fire Station said the fire damaged three vehicles worth Tk 35 lakh but recovered valuables worth Tk 50 lakh.