CHENNAI: Fire broke out on the second floor of a two-storey textile showroom on Ranganathan Street in T Nagar on Monday morning, creating a flutter in the shopping hub. No persons were injured in the accident, police said.

An initial probe revealed that an electrical short circuit triggered the fire, damaging some goods and the air-conditioning units.

The incident happened around 10.55 am. Around 40 employees were in the shop when the fire broke out, police said. The staff started to flee after thick smoke emanated from the second floor. The fire department was alerted after which fire tenders from T Nagar, Saidapet, Teynampet, and Ashok Nagar rushed to the scene.

The fire was put out after an ordeal that lasted close to two hours, police said. According to fire department personnel, the nearby shops were evacuated as soon as the smoke started emanating from the building, and their tenders reached on time, ensuring that the fire did not spread to nearby buildings. Mambalam police have registered a case and launched an investigation.

In May 2017, a fire at the Chennai Silks showroom on South Usman Road gutted five floors of the seven-storeyed building, and the firefighting operations lasted close to two days with over 400 fire and rescue personnel engaged.