Anandapur: At least 50 shanties gutted in fire

At least 50 shanties were burnt to ashes after a major fire broke out at a slum close to a private super specialty hospital in Anandapur area on Sunday morning.

The blaze was doused after almost five hours. There were no reports of any injuries. According to sources, on Sunday around 10:50 am, fire broke out at a shanty

inside the slum.

Before anybody could react, the fire started spreading to other shanties due to the windy weather. Apart from this, several LPG cylinders started exploding which aggravated the fire.

Local residents panicked as thick black covered the entire area. Also, the sound of the explosion increased the panic among the residents. Meanwhile, four fire tenders were pressed into action within a short period of time. Later, seven more fire tenders were sent as the intensity of the fire was increasing. A robot fire tender was also used to douse the flames. The fire was brought under control around 2 pm. The flames were completely doused around 3:30 pm. Director General (DG), Fire and Emergency Services, Sanjoy Mukherjee visited the spot and took stock of

the situation. Occupants of the gutted shanties failed to recover anything as the fire had spread quickly. A few Higher Secondary (HS) examinees lost everything in the fire.

The extent of damage and the cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Several occupants were not there at home when the fire broke out.