A major accident was averted at Gold Souk Grande Mall in
Vyttila on Monday, after a suspected electrical short circuit inside a
garment outlet triggered a fire.
Personnel of the
Fire and Rescue Services Department battled the blaze and put it out two
hours after the fire broke out around 4 p.m. Two employees of the
outlet were injured in the incident.
Two units from
the Gandhinagar fire station were pressed into service immediately after
the incident was reported. Joe Kuruvila Easo, divisional officer of the
Fire and Rescue Services Department, Ernakulam, said the fire erupted
from an air-conditioner duct due to a short circuit.
He said cloth and cardboard materials were found dumped in the air-conditioner duct in violation of the prescribed safety norms.
Smoke
billowed incessantly as panic gripped employees of various outlets and
visitors at the mall. Women employees of an outlet said the fire alarm
system worked and they immediately rushed out of the mall. Officials of
the Fire and Rescue Services asked the mall management to immediately
shut down operations. But people were seen moving around even
half-an-hour after the fire broke out.
The Department
of Fire and Rescue Services had found in July last year that the mall
lacked even basic fire-fighting equipment. The divisional office had
also sent a letter to the District Collector to convey its opinion that
the shopping mall complex poses a threat to the lives of people visiting
it.
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