DUSHANBE -- A fire has swept through Tajikistan's largest market of construction materials and household appliances, Sultoni Kabir, in Dushanbe, the capital.
RFE/RL correspondents reported from the site that the fire started at around 7:00 a.m. local time on January 25 and was extinguished in two hours.
The Interior Ministry said the blaze was caused by a short circuit in the market's electricity system, adding that there were no casualties.
Police have cordoned off the market as investigators continue to work at the site.
Several firefighter brigades managed to extinguish the flames that engulfed some 610 square meters, saving vendors' goods estimated to be worth 2 million somonis ($175,500).
The ministry added that the damage was assessed at 800,000 somonis ($71,000).
In June 2018, a fire in the main building of the Sultoni Kabir market destroyed about two dozen shops. The damage in that blaze was estimated at $390,000,
Some 1,700 vendors work at the Sultoni Kabir market, which covers 5 hectares and has been open since 2000.