COIMBATORE: A 23-year-old student from Tiruvannamalai died of suffocation after a major fire broke out at a private IAS Academy here on Friday. Six others were admitted to hospital.
The incident occurred around 4 pm in the three-storey building of KPR IAS Academy located at AKS Nagar, Ponnaiah Rajapuram, near Gandhi Park here. The building is surrounded by many houses.
Though an electric short circuit in the ground floor was suspected, initially there were rumours that the fire was caused due to a firecracker accident as Deepavali gift boxes were also stocked in the building. Police officials said they found firecrackers in the ground floor, but that was not the cause of fire.
While the ground floor had a library and computers, the first floor housed a conference hall. The second floor had study rooms. Around 150 students were under coaching for various competitive exams, including UPSC and TNPSC, in the academy.
Police said fire was noticed in the ground floor first and the smoke spread to the first and second floors. There were over 100 students in the complex at the time of accident. Students in the ground and second floors managed to rush out on hearing the sounds. But as the conference hall was a closed room, students inside took time to learn about what was happening.
On information, three fire tenders rushed to the spot and rescued over 20 people from the first floor, of which seven suffered asphyxiation. They were taken to the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital. One of them, Sakthivel did not respond to treatment and died around 4.45 pm at the CMCH. Five students identified as Giris Raja (23), Vijayalaksmi (24), Gayathiri (26), Aranganathan (25) and Muthumaragatharaj (26) are undergoing treatment at the CMCH. The condition of Gayathiri is said to be critical and she is on ventilator support. One of the injured, Selvaraju (25) is getting treated in a private hospital here. “Both first and second floors at the complex were fully enveloped by smoke. Books and computers in the ground floor were gutted. All the victims suffered only asphyxiation, and none, including those admitted in hospital, suffered burns,” a senior police officer said.