Hyderabad, May 7 (IANS) A massive fire broke out Thursday in one of the office blocks at Andhra Pradesh state secretariat, the seat of governance, here. No loss of life was reported but office records and furniture were gutted, police said.
Dozens of employees working in the building were rescued by the fire-fighting personnel through windows.
Police said fire broke out around 2.30 p.m. on the second floor of 'D' block and soon engulfed the entire second floor. Several employees working in different departments were trapped inside and the fire-fighting personnel and police had a tough time in rescuing them.
As the electricity supply was cut off immediately after the mishap, some employees getting down through a lift were also trapped. They were rescued by the fire-fighting personnel.
Four fire tenders, which rushed to the scene, were still battling the flames about an hour and a half after the fire broke out. Policemen broke windows to rescue the trapped employees by ladders.
The cause of the fire is not clear but some employees said short circuiting led to the mishap.
The fire, which destroyed records of finance, information technology and forest departments, once again exposed the poor fire fighting mechanism in the key government buildings in the city.
Minor fire mishaps were reported from other office blocks in recent months. The 'D' block was constructed recently and is equipped with best infrastructure.
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