One person died and four others injured in a major fire at Prema Arcade, a three-storey building in the congested Bapubagh in Sindhi colony here on Thursday. Property worth lakhs of rupees was gutted in the mishap. The cause of the fire is not yet determined.
According to fire officials, fire broke out around 5 pm in the first floor, a godown for seat covers and other car accessories, and spread quickly to the floor above, which is a hookah-cum-snooker parlour. Then, the gym on the top floor caught fire.
Ramgopalpet police said the deceased is yet to be identified. The four injured--Sneha, Apurva, Umar and Safeena--were taken to the nearby KIMS hospital. They jumped from the top floor in panic and sustained injuries. Two of them are learnt to be critical.
Power supply in the area was shut down immediately after the fire broke out. Though nine fire tenders rushed to the spot, lack of space to get closer prevented them from dousing the flames quickly.
“The building is very big, but there is only one narrow stairway leading up the floors. The fire occurred on the first floor, which prevented people above from using the stairway,” said one fire official. Fire tenders from places as far as Gowliguda, Sanathnagar, Filmnagar, Secretariat, Secunderabad, Assembly, etc were pressed into service, he said.
Eye witnesses said the glass facade of the building was blown out with a loud bang.
Rajesh Sharma, owner of Solar Shade, whose godown in the first floor was gutted completely, denied that his godown was the origin of the fire. “The fire originated from the hookah parlour. They do not even have permission, but they are open from morning 10 am to night 1 o’clock,” he said.