Fire breaks out at coconut oil mill near Alappuzha

ALAPPUZHA: An oldest coconut oil producing mill in Alappuzah caught fire on Saturday morning. The fire at Babu oil mill at Chungam near Alappuzha town started at around 5 am.


There were no employees inside the mill when the fire broke out and the police suspect that a short circuit could be the reason behind the fire.

The fire was still on till 7.40 am and seven fire tenders and rescue teams were at the spot trying to douse the fire.

Alappuzha DySP PV Baby told TOI that a car and lorry parked close to the mill were completely gutted in the fire. "Large quantities of ‘copra’ were stored inside the mill for producing coconut oil. So we are facing a tough time in controling the fire. However, we hope that the fire will be brought under control soon. We have not estimated the loss so far. We have taken all the steps to prevent the spreading of fire to other areas," said DySP PV Baby.

A local resident, Sudheer, said that the oil mill is around 75-year-old. "Though, there were many oil mills functioning here earlier, all of them closed due to financial constraints and this was the only mill which survived," he said.