Chandigarh, March 20 -- A day after a major fire tore through the mobile market in Sector 22, the affected traders returned to sift through charred stocks, waterlogged showrooms and what remained of their livelihoods.

But the losses were not theirs alone. Even mobile phones left by customers for repair and wedding albums ready for delivery lay gutted or soaked beyond use, destroying precious data and memories.

While a short-circuit is suspected to have caused the fire that gutted SCOs 1024 and 1025, the total losses are estimated to run into crores.

While the blaze had raged through the first and second floors of the three-storey SCOs on Wednesday, the ground floors also revealed extensive damage and pools of hazardous water left behin...