Maputo — A major fire devoured the roof of one of the buildings of the railway station at Mabalane, in the southern Mozambican province of Gaza on Wednesday, reports Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".

It is believed that the fire was started by a kerosene lamp, left burning by one of the station workers near a place where there was a petrol container.

The fire also destroyed part of the documents of the station, including some about the control of trains and of money.

The station chief, Jose Mondlane, told reporters that one of the main difficulties in fighting the fire was the shortage of water. Aid to douse the flames only came about an hour later, using trucks to fetch water from the Limpopo river, about five kilometres away.

Resident volunteers helped rescue some of the documents. "Some people who learnt of the fire helped us rescue some of the documents from inside the burning building", said Mondlane.

He added that fire extinguishers lent by the local health centre also proved useful, preventing the flames from spreading to other buildings belonging to the station.

No casualties were reported and the damage did not affect the circulation of trains on the Limpopo line, linking Maputo to Zimbabwe.

Besides the shortage of water, Mabalane has also been without electricity since February, because of serious damage to the station's generator.