Major fire at restaurant in Ganj

Lucknow: A major fire broke out at Moti Mahal restaurant in Hazratganj on Friday morning. Some labourers sleeping in the basement of the two-storey restaurant were injured as they ran out to save themselves. A part of an adjacent shop, too, got damaged in the fire. It took five fire tenders more than three hours to douse the flames.
Luckily, the fire broke at 4.30am when the restaurant was closed.Moti Mahal restaurant opens around 8am and remains packed with customers till midnight. The fire department said that proper fire-fighting measures were not in place at the building. The fire was caused by sparking in an overloaded electric point on the ground floor, said chief fire officer AB Pandey.
The labourers sleeping on the ground floor woke up when they felt choked. They saw the entire floor engulfed in smoke and ran towards the rear exit door. Some of them were injured when they collided with the iron doors and pillars. Morning walkers passing though Hazratganj saw thick flames billowing out of the building. “Hose pipes were inserted from different positions and sprinklers used to douse the flames,” said chief fire officer AB Pandey.