Fire breaks out at plywood factory in Kolkata, one injured

Kolkata, Oct 26 (PTI) A 56-year-old man suffered burn injuries when a fire broke out at a plywood factory in Kolkata's Maniktala area on Sunday evening, police said.

Five fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the blaze, first spotted around 7.40 pm, a senior officer said.

"One person, identified as Bijay Dalapati, suffered burn injuries, and he has been hospitalised," he said.

Flames were first spotted in the meter room of the factory located in the Kabiraj Bagan locality in Maniktala, the officer said.

The fire spread rapidly to other sections of the building, and plumes of black smoke in the air were spotted.

"Firefighters were working on a war footing to douse the blaze and prevent it from spreading to nearby establishments, including a shop dealing with electrical equipment, adjacent to the factory," the officer told PTI.

It took around one and a half hours to douse the fire, he said.

The exact cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, though preliminary reports suggest that a short circuit of electric wires might be the reason, he said, adding that a large quantity of inflammable materials were stored in the factory-cum-stack-point, which may have intensified the blaze. PTI SCH BDC