Costume jewellery shop destroyed in blaze

CHENNAI: Firefighters battled smoke and flames that broke out in a costume jewellery shop near NSC Bose Road and rescued three families in a two-hour operation at Mint on Tuesday. No casualties or injuries were reported in the fire, suspected to have been caused by an electrical short-circuit. Fire officer P Devendran told Express that smoke was seen coming out of Nidhi Fashion Art Jewellery on South Mint Street around 6 pm. He said the shop, owned by Mangilal Jain (50) was on the first floor of a four-storied building. As the sparks from the electrical wiring ignited a fire that started spreading, the staff ran out and called ‘101’ service. Devendran said five fire tenders from various fire stations, led by him, rushed to the area. “As the approach road was narrow, we could not gain access to the spot easily,” he claimed.As they battled the blaze, they got information that there were three families staying on rent on the second and third floors of the building. On rushing there, they rescued the 12 persons and shifted them to the adjacent building across the terrace. While there were no casualties or injuries either to the building occupants or the fire-fighters, costume jewellery worth thousands of rupees are suspected to have been destroyed. The ground floor shops, including a bakery, however,escaped unscathed.