Fire Tragedy-Kozhikode still under shock

Courtesy:www.dailypioneer.com

Kozhikode:A fire which raged through SM Street and M.P.Road the nerve centre of Kozhikode, the commercial capital of North Kerala, killed 5 people and injured many in the melee which followed. Around 50 shops were gutted in the fire.

The dead have been identified as KP Apputy (81) owner of Kerala Stationery Mart from where the explosion started, Mithunlal(17), Vineeth Raegan(16), Joseph(65),Edakkandy Anoop(24) and Rahul (17).

The tragedy struck the city at 10.10 am when a shop selling firecrackers caught fire which spread to the nearby shops.

Eyewitnesses said that there were loud sound which was heard in a radius of 2 km. A 200-strong contingent of firefighters helped by a large police force and local residents took more than five hours to bring the fire under control.

SM street is the business hub of Kozhikode and with Easter and Vishu round the corner cracker shops and other business establishments carried large stocks . The Kozhikode district collector A.Jayatilak has ordered the Additional District Magistrate P.Balan to probe the incident under Section 9.

Rumours spread that bombs had exploded in the city spread like wildfire and people were under the impression that there were two incidents of bomb blasts in the city. The fact that Fahad, the Pakistani national who is the main accused in the Bangalore terror attack,had relatives in Kozhikode also added to the panic.