A fire broke out on Saturday, at the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) office in Anna Salai, Chennai. Further details are awaited.
The blaze was detected around 9:30 am when a security guard spotted thick smoke billowing from the second floor of the multi-storey building, which was closed for the holiday. No injuries or entrapments were reported, as the office was largely unoccupied, Lokmat reported.
​Fire and Rescue Services swiftly responded, deploying at least five fire tenders and 10 metro water tankers. Teams battled the flames for over an hour, preventing further spread after it engulfed cable lines and reached the third, fourth, and sixth floors.
​Preliminary probes point to an electrical short circuit, possibly triggered by a battery explosion in a second-floor room, though investigations continue. Dense smoke led to traffic snarls on the arterial road, with motorists stopping to film the incident; police regulated flow for safety.
​The fire damaged servers at the BSNL facility, disrupting TANGEDCO's online payment services and backup systems for the 108 ambulance helpline. The main ambulance control at Teynampet remains operational, reports The Times Of India.​
Authorities are assessing damage and probing safety lapses. BSNL services like internet and phone lines in the area faced outages.
Meanwhile, an official release stated that the incident impacted mobile voice and data services in Chennai, as well as the rest of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. Services were partially restored, and work to restore them fully is underway, according to a press release.
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