HYDERABAD: A fire that ravaged the ground floor of a five-story residential building at Bazarghat in Nampally left nine people, including four women and a child, dead on Monday morning. The victims, all members of the same family, succumbed to asphyxiation caused by toxic smoke, as the flames were contained to the ground floor but the smoke enveloped the entire building, trapping them inside.
The ground floor, reportedly used for storing chemicals, including oil used in the production of cooling systems, became a tinderbox, leading to the rapid spread of the fire.
DCP (Central Zone) M Venkateshwarlu said the fire spread rapidly and thick smoke also spread over the building even as police and fire personnel evacuated the families. One car and a few two-wheelers were also burnt in the incident. Chemical tins and drums, raw materials, polyester resin, etc were stored on the ground floor though it was meant for parking, an official said.
Meanwhile, the police booked the building owner Ramesh Jaiswal under IPC Sections 286, 285, and 304, as well as Section 9b of the Explosives Act. Jaiswal is absconding and a manhunt is on to nab him. Jaiswal also owns other plastic and chemical oil companies at various locations in and around the city.
Additional DCP Vikram Singh Mann explained, “Nine people succumbed in this tragic incident, and they all belong to the same family. They died of asphyxiation and were not charred to death.”
Telangana State Disaster Response and Fire Services Department, in a release, said the fire initially ignited at the stilt floor of the building where chemicals in plastic drums and other flammable materials were stored illegally and the smoke spread to the upper floors.
According to fire department officials, 10 people were found unconscious on different floors of the building. They said that those trapped on the upper floors were not able to come down and inhale smoke which caused deaths, they said. Initial reports said that a total of 21 people were trapped on different floors of the building.
Based on the preliminary investigation, a senior police official, citing eyewitnesses, said sparks from firecrackers burst by some children in the area fell on the drums, triggering the fire. However, the exact cause would be known after investigation, he said.
A call was received at the fire control room at 9.34 am informing them that sparks were coming from the stilt floor of the building, fire department officials said. Fire tenders were rushed to the area and fire personnel took up the rescue efforts and extinguished the blaze. However, The cause of the fire is under investigation, it said. The bodies have been shifted to Osmania General Hospital for postmortem examination.
Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao expressed shock at the tragedy, with the chief minister announcing an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of each deceased. Union Minister G Kishan Reddy and IT Minister KT Rama Rao also visited the site. Kishan said that he will try to get financial assistance for the victims under PM CARES. AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi also expressed his anguish.
KCR expresses grief
Expressing his shock, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao announced Rs 5 lakh as exgratia to the kin of each of the nine victims. Minister KT Rama Rao said that if necessary, the injured will be shifted to private hospitals for better treatment.
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