AGARTALA, Oct 28 (TIWN): Life came to stalled when massive fire broke out in front of the first gate of Oil and Natural Gas corporation limited (ONGC) on Wednesday morning. The people of ONGC area under Amtali police station on Wednesday morning narrowly escaped death when massive fire broke out in the 7 shops outside the ONGC office. Panic prevailed in the area for more than hours at ONGC area when fire broke out in the shops at 6 in the morning triggering tension among the people of the area. Reportedly, the incident took place in the morning hours of Wednesday when a localite of the area witnessed smoke spreading wide from the roofs of the shop and flames rising high and immediately called people around for help.Talking to TIWN correspondent, on Wednesday morning Amtali police official said that the preliminary investigation says that the fire broke out from short circuit in one shop and with the blew of the wind it got expanded to the other shops, including a tyre shop in the area.

Police also said that there is no report of any casualty in the area and the fire is now under control.Among the 7 shops, 6 owners area being contacted so far and one owner of a shop could not be contacted yet and police is further investigating the case.Around 7 shops were gutted and goods worth lakhs were damaged in a major fire, one of the busiest area. More than 7 fire tenders and jumbo water tankers were rushed to the spot, confirmed police.Getting alarm about the fire incident huge police force of Amtali police station along with 7 fire service crew reached the spot and after several attempts brought the fire under control. 

Fortunately the fire fighters reached the spot on time and contained the fire that prevented the flames to spread to the other parts of the area.

However, the fire altogether gutted huge amount of goods including stationary goods and other materials spreading horror among the people of the area.

Following the incident huge crowd gathered in front of the ONGC first gate. Though the police and fire tenders reached the spot, the panic gradually spread in the entire area generating serious terror among the locals in the area.

The locality was barricaded and entry to the spot was blocked. Traffic was also diverted in the locality to ensure that rescue work was not hindered.

The incident could have turned into a huge chaos as the fire incident took place just adjacent to the ONGC complex. However, with the joint cooperation of the police and fire tenders the fire was brought under control without much of casualty.