Fire scare near US embassy

A fire broke out on Sunday in the Russian Embassy in Chanakyapuri, triggering a scare as it was two blocks away from the American Embassy on the day President Barack Obama landed in the city. Fire service officials later confirmed that no one was injured.

Fire services said they received a call about a fire breaking out in the health club at the Embassy at around 10 am on Sunday. Six fire tenders were dispatched and the fire was doused by 11 am. Police and fire services said the exact cause was not clear, though a short circuit is the suspected cause.

A senior Russian diplomat said the fire had broken out in the service room of the mini health club which is in the building adjacent to the Bulgarian Embassy. It is not the main building of the Embassy.

He said, “It seems a short circuit in one of the machines in the service room, an underground room adjacent to the health club, triggered the fire. Most of it was smoke and fumes. It was nothing serious and there was no one in the room at the time.”