Morena (Madhya Pradesh): A spark from machinery engulfed the surgical cotton factory and its warehouse on Saturday morning, incurring a loss of about Rs 2.5 crore down to ashes.
The fire brigades were called from Banmore, Morena and Gwalior and fifteen staff managed to start dousing the flames after four hours.
The firefighters were struggling to enter the main plant even after five hours of the fire.
The items worth Rs 1.5 crore were burnt down to ashes in the warehouse immediately.
The Khedapati Surgical Cotton factory is located in the Banmore industrial area behind Seva Gaon.
The unit has been in operation for the past five years.
The fire started when an employee Purushottam Gaur was running a machine and it short circuited.
The spark caught dry cotton and other raw materials and turned into a fire within no time.
About half a dozen employees present in the factory tried to control the flames, but failed.
By the time they could call the firefighters, fire had reached the warehouse.
The manager of the factory Dinesh Goyal reached the factory with the fire dousing team.
The factory worker Purushottam Goyal said that he has not seen such a fire incident in 15 years of his experience working in the factory.
Goyal said that the losses can be assessed only after the factory cools down.
