A fire broke out at a Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) office in the Periyar area of Madurai, Tamil Nadu.Three fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the flames after a fire broke out, sources in the fire and rescue department told news agency PTI.
“The department received a call about the incident at around 8.40 pm. Three fire engines have been deployed to control the fire. The exact cause of the incident is not yet known, as it is too early to comment. We are also not aware if anyone is trapped inside the building,” a fire department official said.
The video shows thick plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky from the building as fire crews and emergency services battle the blaze. As of now, it is not clear whether there were people inside the building at the time of the incident.
In a separate incident, a major fire reduced four houses to ashes in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district earlier on Wednesday, with officials confirming that no one was injured.
The blaze broke out in Karal Mohalla of Puneja village in the Bhaderwah area. According to PTI, the affected houses belonged to Raj Mohammad, Abdul Shakoor, Abdul Qayoom and Jaan Mohammad.
Firefighting efforts were initially hampered as fire engines were unable to reach the spot due to the village’s location nearly one kilometre uphill from the nearest motorable road. Puneja village is situated about seven kilometres from Bhaderwah town.
Bhaderwah SDPO Naveed Qazi, who supervised the operation, said the fire was eventually brought under control despite the difficult terrain. Local residents, assisted by police personnel and fire service teams, worked together to stop the flames from spreading further, though the four houses were completely destroyed by then.
Officials said the exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Villagers claimed that the damage could have been significantly limited if proper road connectivity had been available to the area, which is home to around 1,500 people.
Recounting the incident, eyewitness Mohammad Iqbal said he noticed flames emerging from the top floor of a house, and strong winds quickly carried the fire to neighbouring structures. “The fire department was alerted immediately, but it took nearly an hour for the teams to climb up the hill,” he said.
Another resident, Durga Devi, also blamed the lack of basic infrastructure for the heavy losses, stating that repeated promises to build a road to the village had not been fulfilled.
