Major fire at Mumbai port

A major fire broke out at the Port Users' Building of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, which handles over 50 per cent of the country's container traffic, at Nhava Sheva in Navi Mumbai on Sunday, police said.

However, no one was injured, they said, adding that fire brigade personnel rescued 12 people from the building.

The fire broke out at about 0420 IST in the third floor of the building where shippers keep documents including records of customs clearance, JNPT sources said.

At least seven fire tenders have been rushed to the spot to extinguish the fire, police said.

Fire fighting teams from the Navy and Cost Guard also assisted them in controlling the blaze, sources said.

However, the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, they added.

"This is the port building which keeps the record of customs clearance where cargo is either discharged or cleared by shippers," sources said.

Several documents were damaged in the fire and will result in delay in clearing all shipping out the cargo and the companies may incur huge losses, port sources said.

The port, which handles about 56 per cent of the total container traffic in the country, currently operates two container terminals with the capacity to handle over 2.5 million twenty foot equivalent units.