From correspondents in India, 08:32 PM IST

A unit of a fertiliser factory near this Punjab town was gutted in a fire Saturday, police said.

According to the police, a major fire broke in one of the four units of the factory of Punjab Chemical and Crop Protection Limited near Dera Bassi due to a short-circuit. At the time of incident, there were only five workers in the premises and they quickly escaped on seeing the rapidly spreading fire.

As many as six fire brigade vans were pressed into service to control the fire, which spread quickly due to the presence of highly inflammable chemicals, a police official told IANS, adding it took nearly three hours to control the fire.

Two of the workers suffered burns and they have been taken to hospital, the official said.

Dera Bassi is in Mohali district, around 20 km from Chandigarh.

Ram Dyal, one of the eyewitnesses, told IANS: 'Initially we tried to control the fire ourselves by using fire-extinguishers. But after seeing the rising flames and some explosions in the chemical drums, we called the police.'

'Chemicals worth crores have been burnt to ashes. The estimated loss in the fire is somewhere between Rs.8 and 10 crores (Rs.80-100 million),' said Avtar Singh, director of the company.

(Staff Writer, © IANS)