Chennai Silks showroom gutted in 8-hour-long fire; material worth lakhs of rupees destroyed [VIDEO + PHOTOS]

A major fire broke out on Wednesday (May 31) at Chennai Silks, a leading textile showroom in Usman Road, T. Nagar, in the commercial hub of Chennai.

The fire continued to rage for around eight hours even as six fire tenders and several fire personnel tried to contain the flames. 

At least 12 men who were working in the canteen on the seventh floor were rescued using a skylift. Though no casualties have been reported, cloth material worth lakhs of rupees was damaged in the fire. One fireman has been injured in the firefighting efforts.

While all the shops along South Usman Road had to be evacuated, T Nagar flyover has been closed to traffic on all sides. At around 1.00 pm, the firemen had to bring down a portion of the back of the building to extinguish the fire. 

The losses are yet to be confirmed as the security personnel have not been able to enter the building.

At around 4.30 am,  a security guard noticed thick smoke emanating from the showroom and alerted the fire and rescue service personnel. Police are investigating into the matter. 

Watch the video here: