Minster’s Road Fire Accident: Drone sent in to charred building

Doctors from Gandhi Hospital have set up a medical camp nearby to treat residents in the area who inhaled the smoke caused by the fire.

Hyderabad: Drones were being deployed at the fire hit commercial complex in Minister’s Road, Secunderabad, to check if there are any bodies inside the ravaged building.

The decision to send drones into the building was taken by the authorities amid suspicions that persons were trapped inside when the fire broke out. According to local residents, the three workers – Junaid, Wasim and Zaheer – have been missing and could not be traced since the fire mishap.

A massive fire that erupted at a store in the complex on Thursday morning raged through the day and was finally brought under control by late evening. However, the fire personnel were unable to venture into the building last night or early today as minor fire kept breaking out.

The search operations to locate the three missing persons were currently underway. Officials confirm that their cell phone location was tracked to be inside the building.

Police officials in a joint operation with fire department and GHMC officials now decided to send drones to the second floor of the charred building, where a movement was spotted earlier.

In addition, GHMC officials along with architects from Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University, are working on plans to safely demolish the structure. Doctors from Gandhi Hospital have set up a medical camp nearby to treat residents in the area who inhaled the smoke caused by the fire. Residents of nearby houses were shifted safely to a community hall.

TSSPDCL officials inspect the spot

The Telangana State Southern Power Distribution Company Limited (TSSPDCL) officials who visited the Deccan Mall and carried out inspections, suspect a short circuit, as in most fire mishaps, may not be the cause of fire.

The electricity department officials who started enquiring the mishap from their side, prima facie suspect that when the fire erupted, there was power supply to the electric meter in the premises.

In case of a short circuit, the meter and wires would have been damaged and the circuit breaker would have tripped in the local substation, a senior official who visited the spot opined.