A major fire broke out on Friday at a commercial complex on Second Line Beach Road in George Town where several banks and ATMs are located.
Since the accident occurred just before the offices opened, there were no casualties.
Thick smoke emanated from the basement of the four-storey ‘Dass India Tower’ around 9.30 am. However, the fire was not immediately noticed by those inside the building.
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R. Vimala, a staff at Goodwill Commodities, which has its office in the complex, said, “We were waiting for the office on the third floor to open when we saw smoke billowing from below. People on the road were waving to us to get out of the building. We were not able to come down fast as we felt suffocated.”
“We immediately knocked on the door of the owner’s house on the third floor and after getting the key, opened the door to the terrace of the building. After a while, Fire Service and Rescue Services personnel rescued us,” said J. Gokul, another staff member.
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While nine people reached the safety of the terrace, a few staff members of a bank located on another floor managed to come out after breaking the glass windows and jumping on to the terraces of shops behind the building.
Customers and employees of a bank located on the ground floor also rushed out, witnesses said.
Immediately after receiving an emergency call, personnel of the Fire and Rescue Services Department rushed to the spot with five water tenders and an emergency tender.
Using an aerial ladder platform, the personnel brought the nine persons down from the terrace. The fire was put out by the fire personnel after three hours.
M. Shahul Hameed, Joint Director, Northern Region, Fire and Rescue Services, told The Hindu , “Nearly 100 personnel and other officers conducted the three-hour-long operation.
A short circuit from a generator kept in the basement is suspected to be the cause of the fire,” he added.
The huge commercial complex houses branches of Kotak Mahindra Bank, Yes Bank, RBL Bank, Goodwill Commodities, Dass India Money Changer, Catholic Syrian Bank, a logistics company and a leather godown in the basement.
The fire caused a flutter among customers, who were standing in long queues in front of banks and ATMs in the area.
Blaze in Guindy
A fire broke out in a pharmaceutical company in Labour Colony inside the Guindy Industrial Estate on Friday.
According to officers of Fire and Rescue Services, the fire broke out due to an electrical short circuit on the first floor of the building which houses Narayana Pharmaceuticals.
Immediately, fire tenders were pressed into service and the blaze was extinguished. Medicines and other office material were destroyed in the fire.