Kochi: A major fire broke out at the Home Appliance shop of Gopu Nandilath Group at Edapally on Monday noon, damaging goods and property worth nearly Rs 1 crore. No one was injured in the blaze, first noticed by the shop employees at 1.30 pm in the front portion of the shop.
“The fire broke out all of a sudden and was first noticed at the adjacent godown. It soon spread to the front portion of the shop and two vehicles parked there. All the staff and customers rushed out of the building as black smoke engulfed the region. Even the car shed of the building owner’s house behind the shop was damaged,” said CEO of the Nandilath Group, Subhair.
Soon fire force engines reached the spot at Edapally Toll Junction and it required eight units working for 20 minutes to control the blaze which was finally doused at 2.05 pm.
Cops said the exact cause of the fire was being probed though preliminary reports point towards a short circuit problem. “The front portion and the adjacent godown was completely covered with ACP metal sheets and it’s intriguing how they were gutted in the blaze. At least 50 LEDs on display were damaged and almost all the goods were immersed in water. Since they are electronic goods, the damage will be high,” the official said.
The house of the building owner Navas Muhammed, Blayiparampil House, which is behind the showroom was also partially damaged. “An Innova Car and ACE goods carrier were gutted in the fire.
There were several vehicles of customers but they were quickly taken out of the building premises as soon as the fire was spotted. There is no definite lead on the cause of the fire. A probe is on,” said Abdul Raheed K, district officer, Fire force.
