The fire, which broke out at fourth floor of Maharashtra secretariat, has reached the sixth floor. It's been six hours and the fire continues to spread wildly. Several employees at the secretariat were admitted to private hospitals due to suffocation. Huge flames can be seen from the outside of the building. Although sources said that the fire was on the verge of douse, the flames turned wild and reached chief minister's office on sixth floor.

Every patriot's concern today, on looking at secretariat's live visuals from outside, was the Indian National Flag. Thanks to the couple of employees, who exercised their fundamental duties braving the wild fire. A few employees folded the tri-colour flag before it was burnt.

The sources said thousands of employees evacuated the building within 20 minutes after it caught fire. However, hundreds were still trapped.  Force One commandos and two teams of naval dockyard were pressed into the action to rescue the trapped employees.

Several people rushed to balconies and waved their hands in thick black smoke to get rescued. While there are no casualties reported, the situation created panic among the employees in the building. Hundreds complained off choking and suffocation. On the otherhand, several crucial documents pertaining to Adarsh land scam were said to be turned down to ashes while chief minister's office was also damaged.

Helicopters pressed into action:
Two helicopeters were pressed into action to pick up the rescued persons. So far none of the trapped persons could be found on terrace. The officials are asking the trapped people to rush to terrace so that they be rescued by helicopters.

(AW Phani)