Four shops in the Nakiadeniya area of Galle were destroyed by a fire that broke out on Thursday night, Hiru News reported.
The blaze began suddenly and consumed all four premises, according to Hiru News, which attributed the account to its own correspondent.
The urban fire unit of the Galle Municipal Council, working jointly with the Navy, brought the fire under control.
Yakkalamulla Police are conducting further investigations.
Hiru filed the report at 10.16 p.m. Colombo time on 12 November, describing the fire as having broken out that night.
Not reported
The filing gives no cause for the fire and no indication of whether the cause is suspicious. It does not say whether anyone was injured or killed, what the shops sold, whether the premises were occupied at the time, or what the value of the loss is. It does not say how long the fire took to control, how many fire units attended, or why naval personnel were involved alongside the municipal fire unit.
On sourcing: this report rests on a single verified source. Searches for independent coverage on other verified newsrooms returned nothing on this incident at the time of writing — Ada Derana remains blocked to this desk, and the Daily Mirror, NewsFirst and EconomyNext rails carried no matching item.
A caution for readers searching this event: a separate fire in the same district earlier in November, which destroyed seven boats at the Galle Fisheries Harbour, surfaces readily in searches for Galle fire reports. It is a different incident at a different location.