More than 24 hours after a fire in underground power supply lines claimed the life of a man sleeping in a tyre shop at Shil in Maharashtra's Thane city, smoke continues to emerge from nearby manhole chambers and the investigators are trying to find its source, an official said on Saturday.
A 35-year-old man was charred to death and another person was injured after the fire broke out among underground power cables and engulfed the tyre shop around 6.30 am on Friday. The fire was completely doused by 12.30 am on Saturday.
"Below the underground power cables lies a diesel pipeline of Bharat Petroleum company, which suffered damage due to the fire and explosions. But even 24 hours after the incident, smoke continues to emanate from the chambers and the authorities are trying to find out the source," Avinash Sawant, chief of the Regional Disaster Management Cell (RDMC) of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), said.
A technical team has been working at the site. So far, it has found leakages in the diesel pipeline at two places, he said. "However, the smoke coming from the chambers could not be located till now," he added.