At least 50 fire fighting units worked through entire last night to bring under control a massive fire at a leading plastics manufacturing and exporting unit in the city suburbs.

Sources from the Family Plastics unit at Manvila near here have estimated a loss of Rs 500 crore from the fire after it was first detected at 6.30 pm last evening.

'Sabotate not ruled out'

Since the fire accident took place on the eve of the Kerala Formation Day, it was another reminder to the vulnerability of the State to disasters, natural or man-made, after the devastating August floods.

Initially, an electric short circuit was suspected to be the immediate cause, but the company is not ruling out sabotage, which the State Government has promised to ascertain through a probe.

At least 120 workers, who had punched in for the night shift, made their escape on time as they noticed black smoke emanating from the upper decks of a four-storeyed godown.

Concerted action by fire tenders brought from here and neighbouring Kollam as well as Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu ensured that the blaze was contained at source. There was no way firemen could have gone anywhere near the blazing inferno, given the spread of thick and noxious smoke, intense heat, and at least 20 explosions heard from within.

Fire and rescue services suspected that tonnes of plastic goods, barrels of chemicals and diesel, apart from gas, stored in the godown at the sprawling two-acre compound caused the explosion. No casualties were reported except for two persons having been rushed to hospital with breathing problems after inhaling the smoke.

'May not affect cricket'

Thiruvananthapuram district administration has announced a holiday for two corporation wards in the vicinity after the prevailing winds carried the smoke and ash to some distance.

Devaswom Minister Kadakampally Surendran, who represents the area in the Assembly, said that the one-day cricket match between India and West Indies scheduled for today would not be affected.

The Sports Hub, which hosts the match, is located within a few kilometres of Manvila, and it was widely feared if the fire could pose a problem for conducting the match. The Kerala Cricket Association has said that a final check would be conducted before giving the clearance to the day-and-night match scheduled to begin at 1.30 pm.

Light thundershowers during the night are reported to be generating even more smoke from the fire, which the authorities say would have to subside on its own, given the toxic nature of the stuff exposed.

Their effort was to contain the fire and prevent the flames leaping into another spot within the compound where more inflammable materials are kept. They seem to have managed to do it, but not before bring all the resources at command, including those from the Thiruvananthapuram international airport and the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

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