BENGALURU: Five employees of a bar died when an accidental fire broke out around 2.30 am on Monday in the busy Kalasipalya area here. The five, who worked as waiters at Kailash Bar & Restaurant situated on the ground and first floors of the Kumbaara Sangha building, stayed in the same boxed-up premises with no ventilation whatsoever and died trapped with no way of getting out once the fire spread.
The incident comes a little over a week after a deadly fire at a popular nightspot in Mumbai’s Kamala Mills compound killed 14 people, a majority of whom were women. This incident had raised questions about fire safety norms in pubs and restaurants, triggering safety checks in Mumbai and other cities including Bengaluru.
Initial investigation into Monday’s fire revealed that there was no proper ventilation at the bar as it was boxed up by walls on all four directions. There were also no fire safety measures. It was found that entry/exit to the bar, as well as the rooms inside, were congested with no escape route in case of fire -- which explains how three of the victims got trapped inside a bathroom and died from suffocation.
The deceased are Swami (23), Prasad (20) (both from Tumakuru), Mahesh (35), Manjunath (45) (both from Hassan), and Keerthi (24) from Mandya. “Two of them were charred to death while three others died of asphyxiation due to thick smoke when they took refuge inside a bathroom to save themselves from the fire,” said M N Anucheth, deputy commissioner of police (West).
A vegetable vendor, who noticed thick smoke spewing out of the building, alerted the fire department. Two fire tenders along with a fire rescue vehicle were pressed into service. They were able to put out the fire after three-and-a-half hours, considering they had to reach the spot by navigating narrow lanes -- itself another violation of fire safety norms. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained.
It is said that the bar, like almost all the others in the area, allowed regular customers to sit and consume alcohol till as late as 3.30 am, even as the staff slept there. A version from the bar employees says one of the overstaying customers may have thrown a lit cigarette which could have started the fire. Another version points at rats nibbling insulation layers of electric wires, which had recently caused a minor fire at the same place.
The Kalasipalya police have taken up a criminal case of culpable homicide not amounting to murder against three persons and Kumbaara Sangha Management that owns the building. Police have arrested owner-cum-partner of the bar, V R Prakash, 60, and Somashekar, 59, the manager. The police have booked V R Dayashankar, 58, the licence holder, as the prime accused.