Kerala: Major fire breaks out on Cochin Port Authority land, doused

Representative image. Pic/Istock

A major fire broke out that broke out in a plot belonging to the Cochin Port Authority (CoPA) at Wellingdon Island in Kochi and spread to dry grass last evening has been completely put out, officials said on Tuesday.

The fire took place on the CoPA land near Indian Maritime University and the Southern Naval Command was called for assistance in dousing operations.

According to officials, the fire that started at around 7.45 pm yesterday was completely brought under control at around 10 pm after nearly two hours of continuous operations.

The Southern Naval Command in a tweet said, "On request of assistance, Southern Naval Command immediately pressed Naval firefighting services into action. Naval fire tenders rushed to site & augmented efforts of Port authorities."

"The extent of fire which spread over more than 300m with high rising flames was localised with continuous operations by the Naval fire tenders," it added.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained. Further details on the incident are awaited.

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On March 26, another fire broke out in Sector 1 of the Brahmapuram waste dumping yard, which followed a major fire at the site which broke out on March 2 and lasted for 12 days.

The Kerala high court registered a suo motu case after the first fire and the National Green Tribunal imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on the Kochi Corporation.

The fire and dense smoke from the blaze had spread to neighbouring areas. The Opposition had demanded the State government impose a heath emergency in the area. claiming that the toxic smoke from the waste mound fire has created serious health problems for the people living in the vicinity.

The issue was also raised in the Assembly.

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