HYDERABAD: A fire broke out on the fourth floor of Katriya Hotel on Raj Bhavan Road here on Tuesday morning. No casualties were reported, police said. People rushed out in panic as the smoke spread to the top floors.
Four fire-tenders were pressed into service and, after an hour of struggle, the fire personnel managed to douse the flames.
The fire department officials on Tuesday proposed cancellation of the hotel’s trade licence, citing that the building was unsafe.
“An electric wire caught fire due to short- circuit and it sparked fire on the fourth floor. There was a minor fire on the seventh floor as well. There were just around half a dozen people staying on the fourth floor when the incident occurred. Some of them moved to other rooms while some others to other hotels. The hotel is now functioning normally,” said a senior member of the hotel staff.
“Probe revealed that the fire ignited the mattresses and other material stored in the shaft around the lift. The fourth and fifth floors saw the maximum damage but luckily there were no casualties. Katriya Hotel is a nine-storey building and is running without permission from the fire department,” fire department officials said.
“The fire-fighting systems in the hotel did not function at the time of the incident as they were switched off. The department is launching prosecution against the owner of the hotel and also recommending cancellation of the licence of the hotel as the building was unsafe,” said Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services director-general Rajeev Ratan.
Electric short-circuit has been cited as the second major reason for fire accidents. As per the statistics available with the fire department, in 2015-16 close to 3,000 fire accidents that occurred across the state in 2015-16 were attributed to electric short-circuit.