Massive fire engulfs Himachal factory

BADDI - A massive fire engulfed a textile yarn factory in this industrial town of Himachal Pradesh, destroying goods and machinery worth over Rs.1.30 crore, police said Monday. No one was injured.

“The fire broke out at 4.30 a.m. this (Monday) morning in Birla Textile Mills and it took more than five hours to control the blaze,” Superintendent of Police Chander Shekhar told IANS. He made no mention of casualties.

He said prima facie the cause of the fire seemed to be short circuit in electrical supply.

R.K. Sharma, a general manager with the company, said the maximum damage was to the machinery in the plant.

“The damage is more than Rs.1.30 crore,” he said.

Around 50 people were working inside the factory when the fire broke out. All of them were rescued.

“There was no loss of life,” Sharma said.

The company belongs to the K.K. Birla Group. The facility, set up here in 1999, is manufacturing textile yarn with an annual outlay of over Rs.300 crore.

Last year, nine people were killed and 19 injured in an air conditioner manufacturing factory blast in Nalagarh near here.

Baddi town, an industrial hub, is around 85 km from here.