Major Fire At Cochin Port Authority Land In Kerala's Wellingdon Doused After 2 Hours

Naval fire tenders rushed to the site and augmented the efforts of Port authorities, said Southern Naval Command.

A massive fire broke out at Cochin Port Authority land near Indian Maritime University at Wellingdon Island in Kerala on Monday. Based on the information, Naval fire tenders were pressed into service and the fire was controlled after two hours.

In a series of tweets, Southern Naval Command said, "Incident of major fire over #CochinPort Authority land at Wellingdon Is,#Kochi was reported. On request of assistance,#SouthernNavalCommand immediately pressed Naval #firefighting services into action. Naval #firetenders rushed to site & augmented efforts of Port authorities."

"The extent of fire which spread over more than 300m with high rising flames was localised with continuous operations by the Naval #firetenders. After, nearly 2 hours of #firefighting operations, the fire was completely brought under control at 2200h," it said.

Earlier, a massive fire broke out at Brahmapuram plant in Kochi. The fire started at a lower part of the plastic waste dump yard but soon engulfed the portion of the land due to the soaring heat.

The smoke engulfed the air and Kochi district authorities directed the residents to stay indoors. While firefighters tried their best to douse the fire, the smoke created several problems. Heavy smoke at Kundanur area in Ernakulam created panic. As per the data on the Kerala Pollution Control Board website, the air quality was PM2.5 and PM10 particulate levels in the air in Kochi which was way above the prescribed standards.

Initially, Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan said that someone set the dump yard on fire with petrol but a recent forensic report ruled out any foul play into the incident.