Fire in Central Station creates panic

Chennai, Aug 13: A fire broke out in the western side of the Central Station here this morning, creating panic among the passengers.

However, no one was injured in the fire, which broke out around 0800 hrs.

The Higginbothams book stall and a cybercafe, besides PVC pipes meant for use in Rain Water Harvesting programme were gutted in the fire.

The loss was estimated to be around Rs 1.5 crore, Railway Police sources told UNI.

Electric short circuit was stated to be the reason for the mishap, which led to delay in departure of the two long-distance express trains.

Tension prevailed for a while, as a couple of long distance trains had just arrived at the Station.

The fire was noticed in the PVC pipes kept at the Station and the officials informed the Fire service personnel. About 15 fire fighting units battled for nearly 45 minutes and doused the fire.

The ticket counters were closed as a precautionary measure, causing tension among the passengers. After normalcy was restored, tickets were issued to them, the sources said.

Because of this, the departure of Chennai-Howrah Coromandel express and the Chennai-Ahmedabad Navjivan express suffered a delay of one hour.

However, none of the incoming trains were affected.

Senior Railway and Police officials, including Southern Railway General Manager Thomas Varghese and Director General of Police D Mukherjee visited the spot.

Mr Varghese told newspersons at the spot that the cause of the fire and the exact loss were being ascertained.

It was only a minor fire, he added.

UNI