Property worth lakhs gutted in major fire at Banjara Hills
Hyderabad, Dec 19 (INN): Properties worth several lakhs of rupees were gutted in a major fire that broke out in a commercial complex on Road No 12, Banjara Hills here on Monday evening.
The fire broke out at about 7 pm on the Lighting Palace, which used to sell high-end lighting items, located on the first floor of the two-storeyed commercial complex.
The fire is believed to have started due to a short circuit followed by some sparks which fell on the carpet and sofas. Soon the fire spread to the first floor and later spread to second floor which housed the Raj Travels World.
Five people including the owner of Lighting Palace, Jyothi, escaped miraculously after trying in vain to extinguish the fire.
It took nearly one hour for the first fire tender from the Jubilee Hills Fire Station to reach the spot. It appeared that the fire department personnel did not came prepared to extinguish a major fire.
In less than 15 minutes, the fire tender's tanker fell empty. Two more fire tenders reached the location after about half-an-hour.
After a struggle of more than one hour, the Fire Department extinguished the fire. However, early arrival of fire tenders could have minimised the damage.
Surprisingly, the OB vans of television news channels reached the spot even before the police or the fire tenders.
The fire accident also led to a major traffic jam on the Banjara Hills, Masab Tank and Mehdipatnam roads for nearly two hours.
Several senior police officials reached the spot and started investigations into the causes of fire. The approximate loss due to the property due to fire is yet to be estimated.
However, the officials say that the losses could be huge.
News Posted: 19 December, 2011
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