Popular restaurant gutted by mid-day blaze

Noor Jehan Open Grill, one of the busiest restaurants in Palakkad town, was destroyed in a blaze on Friday. Fire and Rescue Services personnel battled for over an hour to put out the blaze. Although no casualty was reported, property valued at lakhs of rupees was destroyed. Two dozen-odd staff working in the restaurant ran out to safety as the fire broke out on the kitchen side on the ground floor of the three-storey building around 11.40 a.m. There were no customers at the restaurant then.