CHENNAI: Two men who were engaged to lay carpets at an electronic shop in Greams Road near Thousand Lights were killed in a fire in the wee hours of Sunday. According to Thousand Lights police, the deceased were identified as G Gopinath (34) and S Satyamurthy (41), from New Washermenpet.
Both of them worked for a company that specialised in laying carpets. Since shops are closed on weekends, the duo went to lay carpets on the shop on Saturday. After completing work for the day, they decided to sleep at the shop itself.
The fire broke out in the second floor of the commercial complex around 3 am and spread quickly. The two men could not get out and were burnt to death, said the police.
Passersby who noticed smoke emanating from the building informed the police and fire and rescue service. Four tenders from Vepery, Egmore, Teynampet and Triplicane were pressed into service and the fire was put out after an hour. Fire department personnel then recovered the bodies and sent them to Government Omandurar Hospital for postmortem.
The police said the shop that sold mobiles, CCTVs, laptops, etc., was gutted. The owner of the shop was informed of the incident and he rushed to the spot. Thousand Lights police registered the case and an investigation is on.