KULOB, September 17, 2008, Asia-Plus -- Over the first eight months of this year, 48 fires have been reported in Khatlon’s Kulob region, Fayzullo Atoyev, an officer with the Kulob firefighting service, said in an interview with Asia-Plus. 

According to him, the most serious situation has been in the city of Kulob and the Vose district, where 14 and 9 fires have been registered over the report period respectively.  “The fire that occurred in the Khovaling district left one dead,” Atoyev said, noting that damage caused by the fires has amounted to 68,893 percent.   

He noted that 19 fires had been caused by casual handling of electrical appliances and the cause of the fire in nine cases had been children’s prank.