ScreengrabChennai: A day after seven-story building of Chennai Silks was gutted in fire, a part of the showroom partially collapsed early on Thursday. Four floors of the building collapsed around 3 am.
Following which, authorities have begun preparations to raze down the rest of building.
A huge fire gutted the leading textile showroom in downtown T Nagar Wednesday, affecting normalcy in the key commercial area.
None was injured and 12 people were rescued from the seven-storey building, which houses Chennai Silks, a leading textile showroom on the busy Usman Road.
Nil visibility due to thick smoke, traffic on standstill
The accident affected normalcy in the city's key commercial neighborhood, which came under thick clouds of smoke and soot. The incident hit movement of traffic and led to closure of commercial establishments and retail outlets in the vicinity.
Also, some residents living close to the showroom were requested to stay off.
Top officials told PTI that more than 100 tankers had supplied water to douse the fire and 150 firemen were trying to put out the blaze.
A PTI correspondent who visited the spot Wednesday evening found almost nil visibility due to thick smoke, which had spread up to two to three kilometers. Road users, including two-wheeler riders and pedestrians, were put to acute discomfort.
The cause of fire was not known though it was suspected to be due to short-circuit.
"Our priority now is to put out the fire and extinguish smoke. We will look into the cause later," an official said.
The blaze was noticed about 4 am Wednesday and several fire tenders were immediately rushed to the spot.
However, accessing the building and spraying water inside proved challenging in the centrally air-conditioned showroom.
