This afternoon at 3 pm, a container lorry carrying 12 tonnes of cotton left from a godown in Thaneer Pandal in the city to a nearby weighing station. The container belongs to a private concern in Thaneer Pandal and was en route to Haryana.
Employees of the weighing station were shocked to see smoke emanating from the container and they immediately alerted the driver of the container. Fortunately, the driver jumped off the container on-time and escaped without sustaining injuries. The incident was reported to the fire station who rushed to the spot immediately.
Fire fighters, doused the fire with the help of three water tankers. A JCB was also pressed into service to remove the damaged cotton from the container. After five hours of struggle, the fire fighters doused the fire completely.
In this accident, it is reported that the entire load of cotton (12 tonnes) were completely destroyed. Peelamedu police have registered a case and are investigating if the fire was out of a spontaneous combustion or man-made. For a brief time, the traffic was halted in the area.