Two workers who were engaged to lay mats in a computer accessories distribution company on Greams Road near Thousands Lights were killed in a fire on Sunday early morning. The two workers were burnt to death on the second floor of the commercial complex, the police said.
Four fire tenders from Teynampet, Triplicane, Egmore and Otteri, were pressed into service to douse the fire.
A senior police officer said conservancy workers on Greams Lane alerted the Thousand Lights Police Station about the fire around 4 a.m.
Due to heavy smoke on the second floor, the Fire and Rescue Services personnel found it difficult to enter the building. After struggling for more than an hour to put out the fire, the firefighters found two charred bodies. The police said the fire could have been caused by an electrical short circuit.
The Thousand Lights police sent the two bodies to the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Speciality Hospital for postmortem and identified them as G. Gopinath, 34, and S. Sathyamurthi, 40, both from Old Washermenpet. Gopinath’s brother Karthikraja, working as a sales manager in the company, had engaged both for mat laying work on the office premises.
Police said the Fire and Rescue Services personnel were able to contain the fire from spreading to a hostel. The Thousand Lights police have filed a case under accidental death and are investigating.
