CHENNAI: A
fire
that broke out in the Chennai Silks
textile showroom
at
T Nagar
here on Wednesday morning continued to rage for several hours even as firemen battled it.
No casualty was reported.
A security guard, who saw smoke emanating from the ground floor, alerted fire personnel around 4.30am. Fire tenders from T Nagar, Egmore,
Kilpauk
and other places were rushed to the spot.
Twelve men who were working in the canteen on the seventh floor were rescued using a skylift in the morning.
Smoke kept emanating from all seven floors of the building. Efforts were on to extinguish the fire.More than 70 fire and rescue services personnel were battling the blaze.
Firemen said the fire could have been caused by an electric short circuit. However, the exact cause was yet to be ascertained.
Police said there were cracks on the building.
They said the losses were yet to be estimated.
The people in the area complained of breathlessness and eye irritation due to the thick smoke. Shops on the Usman Road were asked to down their shutters and employees were asked to leave.
Traffic in and around T Nagar and Panagal Park was affected. Bus service towards Ashok Nagar and West Mambalam were affected. Traffic on both sides of the Usman Road towards T Nagar and Mahalingapuram was completely cut off.
Chennai city police commissioner A K Viswanathan and fire services DGP S George visited the spot.