As many as 214 passenger cars were gutted in a fire that engulfed a parking lot in Porur area in Chennai on Sunday afternoon, officials said.
According to a Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services official, the vehicles were parked near the Sri Ramachandra Medical Centre. Speaking to the media, District Officer P Saravanan said, "We got information at 2.05 p.m. and six fire tenders were sent to douse the flames. The fire has been extinguished." Thirty-two parked vehicles were saved from being gutted.
The situation was brought under control by 4 p m and a case was registered at the Porur police station. Preliminary investigations reveal that it may have been an accidental fire. However, the police are not ruling out the possibility of miscreants setting fire to the dry grass in the ground. Fire engines had to battle for three hours to bring the fire under control. Six fire trucks and 40 firefighters were employed to douse out the flames.
Several Twitter users too shared images that showed the area engulfed in thick grey smoke clouds. Earlier in January, a major fire broke out at a women’s hostel in the city’s Choolaimedu area. Five women, one of whom was pregnant, were rescued from the bathroom of the building on January 14.
