63 temporary shops gutted in Kanyakumari

KANYAKUMARI: Sixty-three temporary shops and goods worth several lakhs in them were gutted in a fire that broke out in Kanyakumari in the early hours of Saturday, police said. Fire and rescue personnel put out the blaze in an operation that lasted four hours.
The fire broke around 3.15am, district fire officer (DFO) B Saravanakumar said. “We got the call around 3.40am.We suspect that the fire could have been triggered by an electrical short circuit in one of the shops. These shops measuring 40 to 64 square feet each had tarpaulin roofs,” he added.
Saravanakumar, who supervised the firefighting, told TOI that six fire tenders from Kanyakumari, Nagercoil, Thuckalay and Colachel fire stations were rushed to the spot and a team of 45 fire fighters fought the flames.
These shops -- from the Gandhi Mandapam to the shore -- were primarily packed with inflammable materials such as gift articles, plastic toys, clothes and sweaters.
The shops that were destroyed were in five rows. They had open wires, and the flames were fuelled by the heavy coastal winds. “Three LPG cylinders in two hotels burst, making the firefighting all the more difficult. We managed to secure three more cylinders,” he said.
The fire fighters stopped the flames from spreading to the nearly 60 other temporary and permanent shops.
The Kanyakumari police were trying to ascertain the cause of the fire.