Fire breaks out in Madurai Meenakshi Temple, over 30 shops gutted

Many shops were gutted in a 'major' fire which broke at 10.45 p.m. on Friday along the East Tower side of the Sri Meenakshi Sundareswarar Temple.

The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained though sources said that it could be due to a short circuit.

Temple Fit Person Karumuttu T Kannan, who was at the spot, told that four fire tenders have been trying to contain the fire for the past 30 minutes.

Preliminary inquiries suggest that the fire broke out after the shopkeepers had closed the shops along the Swami Sannidhi area at around 10.30 p.m. and left. Eye



witnesses said that flames were seen billowing from the temple museum side as well.

A police officer said that a spark might have started from a shop and spread within a few seconds, gutting the entire row of 30 to 40 shops.

Madurai District Collector K. Veera Raghava Rao was at the spot to oversee the operations. Police officers have cordoned off the area and the electricity supply has been cut off as a precautionary measure.

As the fire tenders ran short of water, priests and residents in the vicinity pitched in with pots of water to douse the fire.