New Delhi, Apr 23 (IANS): Services on the Delhi Metro's Red Line (Dilshad Garden-Rithala) were suspended for more than one hour on Monday after heavy smoke from a nearby blaze made it difficult for the trains to run, the DMRC said.

"At 1.15 p.m., heavy smoke was reported to have originated from the nearby slums beneath the viaduct between Mansarovar Park and Shahdara Metro stations. As a precautionary measure, train services were suspended between three stations between Dilshad Garden and Mansarovar Park Metro stations during this period," said the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) in a statement.

"Rest of the line remained unaffected. At 2.33 p.m., normal services were resumed after due clearances," it added.

The smoke was due to a major fire incident which occurred at a building in nearby Shashi Garden of Gandhi Nagar. Two men were killed in the massive blaze that had broken out at around 11 p.m. on Sunday in the three-storey establishment housing a jeans factory.

"Although our metro train system is fire-proof, we could not take chances and run the trains through smoke, which could have hampered the visibility as well. We suspended the operations the moment it occurred to us that it could pose some threat," a metro official told IANS.