ISLAMABAD: Two persons lost their lives and another received severe injuries after fire erupted at Islamabad's six storey Awami Markaz here early Sunday morning.

According to hospital sources, one person, Ali Raza died after he jumped off the building and could not survive his injuries.

While other victim, Waqar died because of suffocation due to intense flames and heat caused by severe blaze in the building that started around 8 am.

Third victim, Umer Ejaz was taken to Burns Unit of Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) where he was being treated for his injuries.

According to rescue officials the victims were staffers at a call centre located inside the building.

In the morning, the fire fighters had extinguished the fire reportedly caused by short circuiting at one of the floors of the building.

The officials said firefighters managed to control the fire within an hour. Several fire tenders, sky lifts and water bowsers took part in the operation to douse the flames.

However, later in the day, the fire erupted again and started to spread to different floors and even threatened the safety of nearby sensitive government buildings located in the capital's Red Zone.

The second eruption of fire was caused by strong winds that blew in Islamabad during the day along with a bout of heavy rain.

Later in the day, fire Tenders of Pakistan Navy also arrived at the site to take part in the operation to stop the fire from spreading.

Reportedly, record and equipment of offices of Federal Tax Ombudsman and Software Technology Park was burnt in the deadly fire.

Despite all the long day efforts, the fire gutted the whole building which could collapse due to the damage done to it.

Islamabad administration had formed a four member committee led by Deputy Commissioner to report causes of the incident in three days.—APP