more-in Two movie theatres were gutted after a fire broke out in Sri Kanya cinema complex in Gajuwaka area in the early hours of Monday. However, no casualty was reported as there were no workers, except for a few watchmen, or moviegoers on the premises in the early morning. An electrical short-circuit is suspected to have triggered the flames at the complex with three theatres—Kanya on the ground floor and Sri Kanya and Sri Kanya Heaven on the first floor. “A sweeper found the 500-seater Sri Kanya theatre filled with thick smoke at around 6.30 a.m. when he opened the doors. As soon as the doors were opened, the flames came in contact with fresh oxygen and spread to the Sri Kanya Heaven (with the sweating capacity of 250) on the same floor thick and fast. As the interiors were made up of inflammable material, both the theatre halls were gutted in no time,” said District Fire Officer Ramprakash. “The fire personnel received a call at around 6.50 a.m. and three fire tenders from Pedagantyada, Auto Nagar and Marripalem were rushed to the spot within 10 minutes. “It took almost an hour to being the flames under control. Fire tenders from Hindustan Shipyard and Coromandel Fertilisers also reached the spot in time,” Mr. Ramprakash said. Even as the cinema had obtained the mandatory NoC from the office of the Director-General, Fire Services and the fire detection system and sprinklers were in place, the equipment appeared to have failed in the nick of time, said a fire officer. Alarm system “Despite thick smoke and flames, the alarm attached to the detection system seemed to have failed to send the emergency signal. It might also have happened that the alarm had gone unheard as there were no staff on the premises,” he said. The loss to property is yet to be ascertained, but the cinema complex representatives said going by a conservative estimate, it could be more than a few crores. “The two projectors installed in both the theatres alone cost around ?90 lakh,” they claimed. The officials said of the 33 cinema theatre complexes in the city, nine were yet to get the NoCs.

Stay updated with all the Latest Visakhapatnam headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.