JOIN USMajor fire breaks out in plastic factory in Kerala
A massive fire broke out at a plastic manufacturing facility in Manvila, in Thiruvananthapuram, late on Wednesday night destroying two multi-storey buildings in the facility.
No casualties have been reported. Fire and rescue services personnel from different parts of the district and from nearby Kollam and Kanyakumari in Tamil Nadu were engaged in operations to extinguish the fire for over 12 hours.
The fire was brought under control only at about 8 am on Thursday.
The facility is located about five km from the greenfield stadium in Karyavattom where India and West Indies played the final match in the ongoing ODI cricket series, on Thursday.
Two buildings were severely damaged in the fire which was spotted by workers at the facility at about 7.30 pm on Wednesday.
About 300 firefighters and police personnel and 50 fire tenders were deployed at the location, some of them spraying foam to extinguish the blaze.
Plastic products and materials stocked in the buildings made the task difficult for the firefighters.
Preliminary reports said that a short circuit caused the fire in one of the buildings.
The facility is located in a government-run industrial estate where the company, Family Plastics and Thermoware Pvt Ltd, operates its production units and warehouses.
Workers who were at one of the buildings for the night shift escaped soon after the fire broke out.
Residents in the nearby areas were also evacuated. The facility has been functioning in the industrial estate for about 20 years.
Minister Kadakampally Surendran, District Collector K Vasuki and Thiruvananthapuram Mayor V K Prasanth were at the location.
The fire was extinguished before it spread to two other buildings in the facility.
Two men, Jayaram Raghu and Girish, were treated in the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram for smoke inhalation and exhaustion.
The district administration declared a holiday for educational institutions in Manvila and Kulathoor wards on Thursday.
A minor fire was reported at the facility on Monday. Industries Minister E P Jayarajan said, after visiting the location, that the company authorities should have been on alert after the incident. He said that the industries department would conduct an investigation into the incident.