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A BMICH building that served as the media centre during the Commonwealth Summit went up in flames yesterday destroying some 200 inventions that had been brought for an exhibition that was about to begin. Technology and Research Minister Patali Champika Ranawaka had arrived to declare open the ‘Sahasak Nimevum 2013’, an exhibition organised by the Sri Lanka Inventors Commission (SLIC).

Exhibits, awards, personal belongings and furniture were destroyed in the fire which raged for half an hour. Later it was put off by the Colombo Municipal Council Fire Brigade. Minister Ranawaka said he was about to cut the ribbon when people from inside the hall ran out screaming that a fire had broken out. “All those who were inside rushed out.

The BMICH maintenance officers could not douse the fire and the entire hall was destroyed,” he said. The minister said the temporary hall in which the exhibition took place was made mostly of plastic, polythene and canvas material. “This aggravated the fire. When the fire brigade came all the damage were had already been but thankfully no one was injured,” he said.

Police last night said the fire broke out at a stall where a 24-year-old inventor tried to demonstrate his innovation –a hybrid cooker powered by petrol and electricity. The inventor had claimed that his cooker required petrol worth Rs. 1,500 to cook an average household’s food for a month.

A police statement said an inquiry conducted by Assistant Government Analyst Roshan Fernando had revealed that the fire was not intentional. It said the Colombo Crimes Division was conducting investigations and no estimate of the damage caused by the fire had been made so far.

Fire fighters salvaging whatever possible after a fire destroyed some 200 inventions at an inventors' exhibition held at the BMICH yesterday morning. Pic by Indika Handuwela

Inventor P. H. Devinda, 19, who saw the incident said, “The fire broke out in the stall next to mine around 10.30 a.m. When the hybrid cooker inventor tried to operate it, the petrol tank caught fire and then the fire spread,” he said. According to Mr. Devinda, initially the fire was a minor one and could have been put off if proper measures were taken. He said among other inventions were those which would have exploded because they contained chemicals and acids.

“People could have lost their lives. This was the fault of the BMICH maintenance unit. Anybody knows that an invention could be made of anything and sometimes they could be dangerous. They should have been prepared for something like this,” he said.Mr. Devinda is one of about 200 inventors who lost their inventions yesterday. Some of the inventions that were destroyed were developed over the past ten years at the cost of thousands of rupees.

“Almost everything that was brought here couldn’t be saved. My invention which took years to make met the same fate,” said M. A. Prince Chandrasena from Kurunegala. He has won many international and national awards. He was carrying some of the souvenirs that he cherished but they were now reduced to a black pile.

The inventors had come to the exhibition, hoping they could sell some of their inventions. There were others who have taken loans for their inventions and travelling. Mallika Liyanarachchi was among those affected badly. She has borrowed money to travel to Colombo from Thissamaharama with her daughter and brother. Her invention, a yogurt made out of kurakkan, needed two refrigerators and she had taken one on loan from Colombo. This was destroyed along with all her other material.

“We lost everything. We thought that coming here would do us good but now we are helpless. Our money, clothes and everything else were burnt. We don’t know what to do,” said a weeping Ms. Liyanarachchi as her daughter stood crying next to her. The daughter was bare feet and told us her shoes also were burnt in the fire.

Ms. Liyanarachchi also blamed the maintenance unit for the fire. Responding to the charges, BMICH maintenance officer Palitha Sirimanna said everyone was evacuated in time. He said they did the best they could during the incident and the fire brigade was called in immediately to extinguish the fire.

“The hall was temporary but a heat resistance one. We did what we could to control the fire. The Government Analyst’s Department is conducting an investigation and until that is concluded we can’t say what went wrong,” Mr. Sirimanne, who is an engineer, said.

There were about 450 people inside the hall and nearby thousands had come for a bargain sale by a popular company.
Sri Lanka Inventors’ Commission chief Deepal Sooriarachchi said they had prepared well for the exhibition. “There was an outdoor hall for inventions that were dangerous.

This was very unfortunate. But thankfully, no one was injured,” he said. Mr. Sooriarachchi said the exhibition of the young inventors and the commercial category would continue as scheduled. Minister Ranawaka said that details of the inventions lost were registered and remedial actions would be taken after the investigations.