Goods worth lakhs gutted in fire at unit in Varanasi

VARANASI: Massive fire followed by explosion in three LPG cylinders in a vermicelli manufacturing unit broke out in Sevain Mandi area under Adampura police station late Monday night. It left fire tenders struggling from Monday midnight to Tuesday morning to douse the flames. Goods worth lakhs were gutted in fire. However, no casualty from reported.
People dwelling in 250 metre radius of the unit were helped to evacuate from the vicinity of the unit as the intensity of fire continued to increase with explosions in three LPG cylinders.

Girdhar Sao of Sevain Mandi used to run a vermicelli manufacturing unit on first and second floor of his house while he along with his family lived on the ground floor. Fire officer Brij Mohan Singh said short circuit caused fire at the unit. Before the flames could spread to other floors, labourers and Sao, along with his family escaped.

On being informed, Adampura police called fire fighters. Fire tenders reached Bhadau Chungi area at around 12:30am. However, they could not enter the narrow lanes of Sevai Mandi following which fire tenders were stationed at Bhadau Chungi and fire fighters laid pipes and climbed up neighbouring roofs to douse flames. Meanwhile, three LPG cylinders kept inside the manufacturing unit also exploded increasing the intensity of flames.

The incident led to panic in the area and residents of neighbouring houses started running for safe shelter. The fire fighters, after evacuating people from the vicinity of the unit, intensified the efforts to bring situation under control by engaging 10 fire tenders. Singh said that fire fighters had to exercise hard for over six hours.

A major portion of the roof of Sao's building also collapsed. One fire tender remained there to control flames and smoke recurring there while others were sent back.

Sao's family members and owners of other vermicelli units estimated the loss in several lakhs. They said that due to massive increase in demand of vermicelli with the beginning of Ramzan and for Eid falling on June 16, the manufacturer had increased the production and stock.