13 feared dead in fire mishap at cracker godown in Bengaluru

Bengaluru: In a major fire at a cracker shop cum godown, atleast 13 persons are feared dead trapped inside the godown when fire broke while four persons managed to escape from the godown Balaji Crackers at Attibele town in Bengaluru rural district on Saturday. The fire is said to have started at around 3.30 pm.

It is suspected that the fire broke out at the godown when persons were engaged in downloading the crackers from a truck and said that the crackers in the truck came into contact with a live wire leading to the fire. The fire engulfed the godown and the fire spread to the vicinity in no time and parked 8 two-wheelers, two goods vehicles and a truck were reduced to ashes.

After the spot inspection Bengaluru Rural Superintendent of Police Mallikarjun Baladandi told reporters that 10 bodies have been retrieved from the fire site while fire force personnel were engaged in search operations to rescue any trapped inside the godown. He said about 20 persons were trapped inside the godown when fire broke while the details have been collected from the injured on how many were inside the godown when it caught fire.

The cracker godown belonged to Ramaswamy Reddy and had license for cracker business and he was into the cracker business for about 10 years. The SP said any violations are being investigated and stated that the fire has been brought under control.  

It is said that among the injured in the fire incident were customers who had come to buy crackers. Locals said that the shop was about 60 feet in length and they heard a huge sound of crackers bursting and they alleged that officials concerned should not have given permission for the cracker godown because of many petty shops selling cigarettes, bars and others are located in the vicinity.

Later in the evening, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar visited the spot.