CHITTOOR: Three persons, including a father-son duo, reportedly suffocated to death after a fire broke out in a paper plate-making unit in Rangachari street of Chittoor on Tuesday night.
The deceased were identified as Bhaskar (65), Dilli Babu (35) and Balaji (25). They were trapped inside the two-storey building when the fire accident happened. The mishap was suspected to be caused due to a short circuit. According to Chittoor district chief fire officer Chowdepalli Peddireddy, the fire broke out approximately at 10.30 pm on Tuesday.
Chittoor fire station received a call at around 11.15 pm from one passerby KC Srikanth. A fire tender rushed to the spot and found thick smoke billowing out of the building. The main entrance was locked when the firefighters tried to enter the building. They managed to enter the building through an adjacent room by breaking open a shutter door on the ground floor.
Two fire tenders and 37 fire personnel were pressed into service to control the fire, said Chowdepalli Peddireddy.Bhaskar and his son Dilli Babu were running a paper plate manufacturing unit on the ground floor of their residence. They stocked manufacturing machines, raw material, paper bundles and other stocks in the building.
Balaji, an IT professional, had come to attend Dilli Babu’s birthday function on Tuesday.“By the time we reached the spot, the fire had spread to the entire building,” Chittoor Two-Town circle inspector Yateendra said.