PLO seek Israeli help to control fire

PLO police sought Israeli help to extinguish a fire which engulfed two Palestinian factories in an industrial area of self-ruled Ramallah yesterday, witnesses said.

They said a sponge factory caught fire earlier in the day, destroying all its equipment and products worth more than $10 million US. the fire spread to a nearly clothing factory before it could be controlled.

No one was hurt in the blaze.

The Palestinian firemen could not extinguish the fire, because it was too big. It began spreading, so the Palestinian police requested help from the Israeli liaison officers to send fire engines from Israel to help put out the fire, one witness said. Several Israeli fire engines arrived in Ramallah from Jerusalem. Before the Israeli and Palestinian firemen began to control the fire, it had already spread to another clothing factory.