Kolkata: About 100 TV sets and refrigerators were destroyed as a warehouse of electronics goods manufacturer Videocon caught fire in northeastern Kolkata Saturday afternoon.

About 50 workers were inside the warehouse at the Information Technology (IT) Park in Salt Lake. They managed to escape unhurt, but they could not save the goods.

"The godown caught fire around 4 p.m. Though the reason behind the fire is unknown so far, it seems there was a short circuit," a fire brigade official said.

The place was stocked with about 100 television sets and refrigerators. Besides, there were highly combustible packaging material and pitch boards that helped the fire spread rapidly.

"At first four fire engines reached the spot. But as the television sets and refrigerators started bursting we rushed 10 more engines," he said.

The fire was controlled after two hours.

Sanju Santra, a worker, said: "The fire fighting system here is ineffective. This place lacks the security measures that an electronic goods godown should have. We were lucky to escape or else we would have turned to ashes."

The IT Park is regarded as the techno-hub of the city. Business centres like Technopolis and around 10 call-centres fall within a one-km radius of the Videocon facility.

North 24 Parganas Additional Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Biswas said: "Our only concern at the moment was to check the spread of fire to the neighbouring buildings. We have to rethink about the security issues in this area after this fire."

Source : IANS