New Delhi:

A major fire broke out Tuesday evening at a building situated near the Mata Vaishno Devi temple in Katra in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.

The fire – believed to be the result of an electrical short circuit – broke out inside a cash counting room adjacent to the ‘bhawan‘, or sanctum sanctorum. The building suffered significant damage; visuals from after the fire was put out showed it had almost completely burned down.

The blaze began at around 4.15 pm and was brought under control by 5 pm. The initial alarm had been sounded by CRPF personnel stationed there, news agency PTI said.

Visuals on Twitter showed a huge plume of black smoke pouring out of the top floor of a building.

“We got a call around 4.30 pm. Initial reports suggest the fire broke out due to electric (short)circuit,” Shailender Singh, the Senior Superintendent of Police for Reasi district, told NDTV.

No deaths or injuries have been reported so far.

Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh said he had spoken to the Reasi District Collector and been told the situation was being resolved.

“Spoke to DC Reasi, S Charandeep Singh, just now and inquired about the fire that broke out near the Vaishno Devi shrine some time back. Thankfully, everything brought under control. No major loss reported. However, keeping a close track for the next few hours,” he tweeted.

Further details are awaited.