20220207 Chennai: Close shave for 70 people in freak blaze in Pondy Bazzar
India Feb 07 2022 “Building” “Complex bldg.” “Houses” “Stores”
Dead : dead 0 or unknown Burnout : 1 to 29 Injured : injured 0 or unknown
Chennai: Close shave for 70 people in freak blaze in Pondy Bazzar
Updated: 2022-02-07
Fire personnel fight the blaze
CHENNAI: Seventy people including an actor’s family, 40 elderly people and a few pregnant women had a miraculous escape, when a fire broke out in a commercial complex at Pondy Bazaar on Sunday morning.
All those in the hall climbed to the terrace and waited upstairs looking for the firemen to rescue them for nearly 30 minutes.
The three-storey building located on Pondy Bazaar houses at least seven shops on the ground floor, a textile shop and a software firm on the first floor and a church on the second floor. The fire spread from a textile shop on the first floor, with rescue personnel saying an electrical short circuit could be the cause.
While the Sunday mass was on in the church, those gathered there found smoke entering the air conditioned hall of the church. Within a couple of minutes, the entire room was engulfed in smoke. Immediately, actor Shree Kumar, who had come there with his mother, found the terrace door open and decided to evacuate all of them and take them to the terrace for safety.
Sreekumar, who also took refuge on the terrace, said “Before firemen could arrive, we kept two tanks of water on the terrace ready to put off the fire, in case it spread upstairs. The smoke began to spread to the terrace as well”.
The fire is said to have broken out at 11.30 am. The firemen battled for nearly an hour to put off the fire and brought them down. Bronto sky lifts were brought to the spot.
Web Source: The Times of India