A joint probe team from the hotel management, Delhi Police and Fire department ventured inside the fire site wearing precautionary head gear.

“It’s still unsafe in there,” said hotel general manager Ray McShane.

The 40-odd fire tenders waged a three-hour battle with the flames on Saturday afternoon. “Unfortunately, we were not able to save Enoki, the Japanese restaurant on the ground floor. The kitchen and some portion of the banquet hall were also damaged,” said McShane. The manager added that the estimate of the damages was still not known.

The Grand followed the usual drill after the outbreak of fire. “The safety of our guests was topmost priority for us,” said McShane. He said that the hotel staff were sent to the rooms to escort the guests outside. In all, 182 guests and 150 hotel staff were safely evacuated within an hour.

Alternative accommodations were provided at Hyatt Regency in Bikaji Cama Place and Shangri La at Ashok Road. All the guests returned on Sunday morning to pick up their luggage. No loss of baggage was reported.

The hotel staff said that future bookings also have been taken care of. “An information desk has been set up at Hyatt Regency and all the future guest bookings can be taken care of directly there,” said a Grand official.

Though fire officials believe a short circuit could have caused the fire, the SouthWest Police are not taking any chances. “We have registered a case of mischief with fire against unknown people and are investigating,” said SouthWest DCP, Shalini Singh.

McShane said, “The hotel staff will cooperate with the investigating officers.”