Mumbai: Fire breaks out in suburban Govandi's slum area; no casualties

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A fire erupted in some shops located in a slum area in Govandi suburb of Mumbai on Tuesday afternoon. Nobody was injured in the incident as per the preliminary information and efforts are underway to douse flames, newswire PTI reported quoting officials.

"The blaze erupted at around 3 pm in four to five shops on the ground floor of a structure in a slum area in Zakir Hussain Nagar. It is mainly confined to electric wiring, electric installation, stock of scrap material and cardboard papers etc.," a civic official said.

At least four fire engines and other vehicles of Mumbai Fire Brigade are at the spot and fire fighting operation was underway, he added. The cause behind the blaze cannot be known immediately.

In a separate incident, four motorcycles were gutted in a fire that broke out in a bike showroom in Thane city of Maharashtra on Tuesday morning.

Nobody was injured in the incident that took place on Ghodbunder Road in the early hours, said Yasin Tadvi, chief of the Thane Municipal Corporation's regional disaster management cell.

Also read: Mumbai: Fire destroys furniture shops in Kurla West

"The blaze erupted at around 3 am in the garbage lying near the showroom and soon spread to the outlet. Four motorcycles were gutted in the fire. The personnel of the fire brigade and RDMC rushed to the spot and launched a firefighting operation," he said.

The fire was extinguished by around 3.50 am, Tadvi said, adding that its cause is being investigated.

Meanwhile, a fire that gutted several houses in the Jubbal subdivision of Shimla district was caused by a short circuit, according to the State Emergency Operation Centre. The number of families rendered homeless has risen from seven to 10, officials said on Tuesday.

The loss of property has been estimated at Rs 5 crore and an immediate relief of Rs 15,000 given to the affected families, they said.

About 80 heavily timbered rooms of the 10 houses were completely gutted in the fire that broke out around 1 am on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. However, no loss of lives of humans or cattle was reported.

Seven water tenders were rushed to the spot from Jubbal, Rohru, Chirgaon and Kotkhai fire stations that took six hours to bring the flame under control. (With inputs from agencies)