Five dead in Nampally building fire, including two children

A massive fire in a Nampally building killed five people, including two children and an elderly woman. Rescue teams recovered the bodies from the cellar, and authorities are investigating. Fire spread quickly due to combustible materials stored in the basement.

Hyderabad: Five bodies, including two children and an elderly woman, were recovered from the building in Nampally, which was ravaged by a massive fire on Saturday evening.

Working through the building where a fire broke out in a furniture shop on the ground floor, the rescue teams retrieved the bodies on Sunday. The Abid Road police have registered a case and started an investigation.

The victims were identified as Pranith (11), Akhil (8), sons of building watchman Yadaiah, Habeeb (35), an auto driver who worked at the furniture shop, Mohd Imtiyaz (28), a salesman at the store and Bebi Begum (46), who worked as a sweeper in the building.

According to eyewitnesses, Pranith and Akhil were trapped in their room located in the cellar when fire broke out and spread rapidly. Their parents had gone out to work at the time of incident. Bebi Begum was also in the cellar and got trapped in the fire.

On coming to know that the three individuals were trapped in the cellar, Habeeb and Imtiyaz went inside to rescue them. “Unfortunately, they too got trapped and could not come out. There was thick smoke and we suspect all five people died from suffocation,” said an official of Hyderabad police.

Telangana Fire, Disaster Response, Emergency and Civil Defence Department Director General Vikram Singh Mann told media on Sunday that a lot of combustible materials such as furniture, raw material, chemicals, plastics, mattresses, and foam were stored in the two basements of the building.

“Due to presence of a huge quantity of combustible material, the fire spread rapidly,” said Vikram Singh Mann.

Thick smoke inside the building prevented the firefighters and NDRF team from entering the building until Sunday noon. The rescuers then went inside and brought the bodies out one after the other.

Multiple agencies, including police, fire, NDRF personnel and Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA), took part in the rescue operations that began on Saturday afternoon.