thiruvananthapuram six shops were gutted in a fire that broke out at east fort near the kerala state road transport corporation ksrtc waiting area in thiruvananthapuram on tuesday according to fire safety officials a cylinder explosion caused a fire in a tea shop around noonthe fire that erupted occurred in a tea shop rapidly spread to neighbouring shops triggering panic the fire safety team was able to quickly extinguish the flames and prevent them from spreading to other shops and street vending stalls at east fort no one was injured in the fire outbreakaround 35 fire safety personnel from seven fire stations reached the spot and doused the fire within an hour the officials said that a major tragedy was averted since the fire happened in one of the busiest places in the citythe place is closely packed with shops and there were a fairly large number of people waiting for the bus at east fort when the incident happened