Eleven charred to death in early morning blaze in Hyderabad 

The victims, all aged between 20 and 25 years, were migrant workers from Bihar working at the scrap godown and segregation unit. They were living in two rooms on the first floor of the godown.

Hyderabad: In one of the worst fire tragedies the city has witnessed in recent times, 11 migrant workers were charred to death in a single room after a fire broke out in Shravan Traders, a scrap warehouse at New Bhoiguda in the wee hours of Wednesday. The sole survivor of the ghastly tragedy, who managed to jump to safety from the first floor, injured himself in the process and is recuperating in hospital.

The victims of the morning blaze, the bodies of whom were found in one room on the first floor, where they are suspected to have ran in to escape the fire, were all asleep when the flames first broke out. The 11, who were identified with the help of the survivor, were Sikinder (40), Bittu Kumar Ram (20), Satyender Kumar (30), Chettilal Ram alias Gollu (28), Damodar (27), Sintu Kumar (27), Durga Ram (35), Rakesh (25), Deepak Kumar Ram (26), Ankaj (26) and Daroga Kumar alias Dinesh (35), all migrant workers from Saran district of Bihar. The survivor was Prem (25), also from Bihar.

All the 12 were working at the scrap warehouse and segregation unit while staying in two rooms on the first floor. According to Regional Fire Officer V Papaiah, the Fire Control Room received a call around 4 am, following which fire engines from the Musheerabad and Gandhi Hospital fire stations were rushed to the spot. Firefighters struggled to reach the burning room because there was only one entrance through a shutter to enter the premises, he said.

“We suspect the victims were fast asleep when the fire broke out. All of them huddled into the second room on the first floor to escape the fire. We found the 11 bodies, charred beyond recognition, in the same room,” Papaiah said.

“The workers lived on the first floor and cooked in a room where an LPG cylinder was also kept, which is believed to have helped the fire in spreading fast,” he said.

The intensity of the blaze was such that it took eight fire tenders almost three hours to control the fire.

Prem, the only survivor who is still in shock, is said to have been awakened when fire began spreading to the first floor after which he jumped from a window, injuring himself. He was shifted to Gandhi Hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.

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