Fire breaks out in MKU lab, no casualty

MADURAI: A fire broke out inside the chemistry department laboratory of Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) on Thursday morning and completely destroyed the store room. Nobody was hurt, since students and staff were away on Christmas holidays.
The fire broke out at around 8.30am, when electricity returned after a power shutdown. University authorities immediately informed the fire and rescue department.
Three fire tenders reached immediately, and the flames were completely doused by 10 am. However, the store was completely destroyed, including the chemicals and other stock kept inside it.
The fire outbreak was reportedly augmented by the large quantity of chemicals meant for students' research activities.
Apart from the store room on the ground floor, two staff rooms on the first floor and a part of the laboratory and instrument room were also damaged in the incident. University sources said they suspected that the mishap had been caused by a short circuit.
As news about the fire started coming out, a large number of students turned up, besides concerned parents who wanted to take stock of the situation.
A case was registered with Nagamalai Pudukottai police station and investigations are on.
The fire tenders were kept inside the university premises till 6 pm, in case water on the remaining chemicals dried up in the heat.
MKU authorities are planning to study the cause of the incident, and frame guidelines to avoid further incidents of fire in the university premises.
N Rajasekar, registrar of the university, said, "We are yet to ascertain the worth of the valuables lost in the accident. We are studying the matter," adding that it will take two days to get an estimate.
He said that Kalyani Mathivanan, vice-chancellor of the university, had already appointed a committee to study the reasons behind the fire.
The committee will also study and propose methods to be followed to avert any similar accidents in the future.