Hyderabad: Fire at Gulzar Houz turns fatal for 17, including 8 children

Blaze engulfs a three-storey building in old city; most of the victims die due to asphyxiation

Hyderabad: A devastating fire that ripped through a three-storey building at Gulzar Houz in old city killed 17 people including eight children, in the early hours of Sunday.

The victims, the youngest being 18 months old, were yet to wake up on the weekend when the fire that broke out just around 6.15 am spread fast and the smoke engulfed the entire building.

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Trapped completely by the fire and the thick smoke, the elders clutching the children made vain attempts with all possible escape passages.

Heart rending scenes were on witness even as the fire personnel assisted by the police and other department personnel apart from the locals, fought hard to bring the blaze under control. Fire engines and crews were rushed from several fire stations but the narrow steps to different floors of the building hampered the rescue efforts.

The locals who first noticed the fire billowing from the ill-fated building alerted the police and fire departments and without waiting plunged into rescue efforts. Some rescuers managed to break open the shutter that led to the building and tried to enter the premises of the decades old building which had a lot of wood used for interior works.

The Charminar police also rushed to the place and fire tenders from Moghalpura, Chandulal Baradari, Gowliguda, Salar Jung Museum and other fire stations were dispatched.

However, the fire personnel had a tough time getting into the building as two-wheelers were parked at the entrance and the steps leading to the upper floors were quite narrow, hindering the movement of the men and equipment.

Moving onto adjoining buildings, the fire fighters managed to gain entry into the building. One of the fire officials said, “We went checking room after room on the first floor and found the bodies. Families were huddled in rooms, apparently trying to save themselves from the smoke. Most of the victims died due to asphyxiation.”

Telangana Fire Department, Director General Y Nagi Reddy, said the fire broke out on the ground floor and spread to the upper floors. Firefighting, search and rescue operations were carried out simultaneously and 17 people who were trapped on the first floor were rescued by the Fire Department personnel and shifted to hospital. During the treatment 14 of them died. The victims included mostly from the same family and a few relatives who had gathered at the house in view of summer vacation.

A total of 11 vehicles, one fire fighting robot, 17 fire officers and 70 personnel were involved in extinguishing the fire and rescuing trapped persons. It took two hours for the firemen to extinguish the fire. The suspected cause of the fire is under investigation, officials maintained.