Major fire in North Kolkata, 3 manufacturing units of paint factory gutted

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A devastating fire gutted three manufacturing units of a paint factory at Cossipore in North Kolkata on Sunday night. There was no report of any casualty or persons being trapped inside the factories but three local youth suffered injuries while trying to help douse the flames.

Twenty-two fire tenders were pressed into service as firefighters contained the blaze in about five hours, which started at a paint factory on Lock Gate Road at around 5:45 PM, West Bengal Disaster Management minister Javed Khan said.

Khan, who was at the site for hours, said the fire gradually spread to an adjacent hosiery unit and a chemical factory and reduced all the three units to ashes.

The fire fighters managed to prevent the flames from spreading to a nearby slum as the residents got panicky, Khan said. Some of the residents also agitated before the minister but were pacified.

Members of a disaster management team helped to assist the fire services personnel.

Three local youth suffered injuries as they tried to assist firemen in dousing the flames, Khan said adding none of them were in serious condition. The cause of the fire was not clear and a forensic team will visit the spot on Monday to probe the incident, Khan said.

Police said the area had to be cordoned off and traffic diverted to facilitate fire-fighting, which led to a huge traffic snarl in the surrounding areas.