Ahmedabad: Firefighters armed with 30 fire tenders battled for over 30 hours to control a massive blaze that erupted at Surat’s Shiv Shakti textile market on Wednesday, destroying nearly half of the stores. No casualties have been reported so far, police said.
This was the second time in 24 hours that flames erupted at the market. The initial fire broke out on Tuesday morning in the market’s basement, where large quantities of textile stock were stored. Firefighters contained it after several hours, but the fire reignited on Wednesday morning, quickly spreading through the four-story building.
“Approximately 45 lakh litres of water were used to douse the flames that broke out in the market,” said an official from the fire department.
Around 450 shops have been severely destroyed in the market that houses over 850 shops and provided employment to around 5,000 people, police said.
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“Unauthorised textile shops had encroached upon the market’s parking area, and authorities are now investigating this issue,” another official said.
{{/usCountry}}“Unauthorised textile shops had encroached upon the market’s parking area, and authorities are now investigating this issue,” another official said.
{{/usCountry}}Praful Panasariya, member of the legislative assembly (MLA) from Gujarat’s Kamrej, praised the firefighters for preventing the blaze from spreading to nearby buildings at the Shiv Shakti textile market, which he called “one of the oldest markets in the country”.
Surat mayor Daxesh Mavani confirmed that the cooling operations had begun after the fire was brought under control. “This is the wedding season, and the shops had stocked up goods. We have the best firefighting system, and the situation is under control. A report on the incident will be submitted to the chief minister. We will also examine how many illegal structures have come up in the area,” he said.
State home minister Harsh Sanghavi said that controlling the fire was challenging. “Chief minister Bhupendra Patel has sought a report on the incident,” he added.