HYDERABAD: As fire erupted and started spreading around the single-room shed, which doubled as the workplace as well as quarters, in the wee hours of Wednesday, those trapped inside the air-cooler unit at Rajendranagar here screamed their lungs out for help as they could not trace the key to the exit. When finally the gate was broke open, the charred bodies were found piled up next to the exit.
As many as six migrant workers were charred to death when a fire broke out in an illegally-run air-cooler factory at Rajendranagar in the city in the early hours of Wednesday. The deceased hailed from Nevra village in Chainpur of Jharkhand.
The inspector of Rajendranagar police, who was on patrol duty on the eve of TJAC rally, was among the first the reach the fire accident site near Pillar No. 160 at Attapur.
Even as the workers trapped inside could not make it outside, one of them gave a call to their employer Pramod Kumar for his help. The employer later confirmed the same.
Inspector Umender, who reached the spot when the blaze was still spreading, recalled, “The workers were screaming in pain and yelling for help. But we could not go inside as the fire spread very fast inside and engulfed the whole unit.”
During questioning, Pramod Kumar is learnt to have told the police that he received a call from one of the workers informing him about the fire breakout. He advised them to break the walls.
“Pramod claimed that one of the workers called him when they woke up to the smoke and fire. He answered the call only to know the details of the mishap. He said he asked them to break the walls to come out as they could not find the key,” said the inspector. There was no other way for the workers to go out and they all tried to exit through the main shutter and were charred to death.
When rescue teams broke open the door with the help of a tipper, they saw the bodies seen just behind the door.
An eyewitness, Khaja Hussam Uddin, said, “After the shutter was broken, the fire brigadiers put out the blaze. As I entered the unit, the bodies were lying just behind the shutter. The bodies were burnt to such an extent that when I lifted a body, the limbs got separated.”