THOUSANDS of dinars worth of raw materials and chemicals were gutted in a fire at a factory yesterday, which took firemen nearly two hours to put out.

The fire started at around 1pm in open ground belonging to Bahrain Pipes Factory in Salmabad.

The alarm was raised by a worker, who saw smoke rise from the materials, and called firemen to douse the blaze, which was clearly visible from the Shaikh Isa bin Salman Highway.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is still unknown. However, a company spokesman denied any foul play.

"We lost chemicals and materials worth thousands of dinars, but we cannot count the exact figure at the moment," he added.

"The chemicals and flammable plastic raw materials in the factory caught fire. There were only four or five workers in the factory and no one was injured.

"It was only the raw material in the open area which caught fire and it didn't spread towards the factory."

A Civil Defence source confirmed that an investigation had been launched into the cause of the fire.

"We received a call from one of the workers and immediately sent our team to douse the blaze," he said. "It was in the open grounds of the factory and not inside the factory and no one was injured in it. The cause of fire is still under investigation." aneeqa@gdn.com.bh