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11 migrant workers killed in Telangana godown fire
Police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the fire broke out due to a short-circuit and flames engulfed the entire building within a short span. It resulted in explosion of a cylinder in the building
Eleven people were killed and one person sustained severe burns in a fire that broke out early on Wednesday at a scrap godown in Secunderabad, police said.
The victims were all migrant workers from Bihar. According to police, they had been engaged for segregating iron and plastic scrap stored in the godown, located in the Bhoiguda area.
Hyderabad police commissioner C V Anand told reporters that the fire broke out in the godown -- belonging to Srinivasa Traders -- at around 3.30 am on Wednesday. As many as 12 workers were sleeping in a room on the first floor of the building and the fire broke out on the ground floor, where the scrap was stored.
Anand said a preliminary investigation revealed that the fire broke out due to a short-circuit and flames engulfed the entire building within a short span. It resulted in explosion of a cylinder in the building.
“Since there was only one exit and entry point for the godown, they could not come out immediately. One of them managed to jump out of the window and save himself,” Anand said.
He said the owner of the firm, Sudhakar, was absconding but his son was taken into custody for questioning. “For now, we have booked a case of accident and we shall look into various angles during the investigation. As of now, it appears there are no fire safety measures in the building. Secondly, it is located in a densely populated residential area,” he said.
The deceased were identified as Sikandar (40), Satyendra Ram (35), Golu (28), Bittu (23), Damodar (27), Rajesh (25), Dinesh (35), Raju 25), Chintu (27), Deepak (26) and Pankaj (26). According to officials in Bihar, eight of the deceased are from Saran district while the remaining three were residents of Katihar district.
The condition of Prem (24), who is undergoing treatment at Gandhi Hospital in Hyderabad, is said to be critical.
“The bodies of the victims were charred beyond recognition. We are conducting a post-mortem and based on the identification marks and other material collected from the bodies, we shall identify them and hand over the bodies to their families,” Gandhi Hospital superintendent, Dr Raja Rao, said.
Regional fire officer V Papaiah said personnel had a tough time in controlling the fire as there was only one entrance to the premises. He said a large number of cable wire bundles were stored in the ground floor, apart from iron scrap, empty liquor bottles, paper and plastic bottles. “It took almost three hours for the fire personnel to control the fire,” he said.
Saran district magistrate Rajesh Meena said most of the deceased were from Amnour, Marhaura and Masrakh blocks.
A pall of gloom descended upon Angwan and Bahura Patti villages of Marhaura block as soon as the news of the deaths broke.
“He spoke to me at around 9 pm on Tuesday night. He was to come home on April 9 to see his three-month-old child,” said Satyendra Ram’s wife, in between sobs.
His father Sukai Ram, a resident of Bahuara Patti village, had planned a party for his son. “God has something else in store for us,” he lamented.
At the nearby Amnour Angwan village, one family lost two members -- Deepak and Bittu -- to the fire. “They both had gone just 25 days ago and Bittu was to come in May for his younger brother’s marriage,” said Angad, a resident of the same village.
President Ram Nath Kovind, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and his Bihar counterpart Nitish Kumar were among the leaders who expressed grief over the incident.
“The death of workers in a fire accident at a godown in Secunderabad, Telangana is a tragedy beyond words. My thoughts and prayers are with the bereaved families. I wish speedy recovery for the injured,” the President tweeted.
Rao announced ex-gratia of ₹5 lakh each to the kin of the victims and instructed chief secretary Somesh Kumar to make arrangements for transportation of the bodies to Bihar.
PM Modi grieved the loss of lives and extended condolences to the bereaved families. He also announced ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh each the victim’s families from the PM Relief Fund.
Kumar announced ex-gratia of ₹2 lakh to the next of the kin of each deceased and said steps were being taken to bring back the mortal remains.
“It is a tragic incident. I have learnt that the government of Telangana has announced a compensation of ₹5 lakh to the families of each of the deceased. We will give another ₹2 lakh. Our resident commissioner in New Delhi has been asked to get in touch with the southern state for bringing back the mortal remains,” he told reporters in Patna.
Telangana Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan, too, expressed shock over the loss of lives and extended condolences to the bereaved families.
Commissioner Anand said the bodies would be flown to Patna by a special aircraft by Thursday morning and from there, they would be transported to their native village.
(With inputs from HTC, Patna)
