Hyderabad: Fire breaks out in Hotel Katriya, guests panic

Hyderabad: Hotel Katriya caught fire in the early hours of Tuesday and nearly 150 guests and staff inside the hotel panicked and rushed out. Some were rescued safely by firemen. Panjagutta police said that sparks from the electrical junction box on the fourth floor of the hotel led to the fire. “Hotel staffers carelessly stored beds and bed sheets very close to the electrical junction box. The incident took place at around 7 am and the fire spread to the fifth floor where the management had stored wooden furniture,” they said.

Three fire tenders from Secunderabad and Secretariat reached the hotel at around 8 am and firemen controlled the fire by 9 am. Initially, firemen faced problems as there were no sufficient entry points. Later, the arrival of the Bronto Sky Lift vehicle geared up the fire fighting. Police registered a case. The fire services department found that the hotel management had not obtained a No Objection Certificate (NoC) from them. The department had held a series of checking after the Sitarambagh incident and issued notices to building owners, who did not follow fire safety measures. But, the hotel escaped checking at that time.

Following Tuesday’s incident, fire officials are again planning to concentrate on hotels. It was found that the Katriya management had installed fire extinguishers, but the equipment did not give off alarms during the fire. An official from the fire services department said they were planning to prosecute the management of Hotel Katriya. "We have already prepared the process. Similarly, we are concentrating on other hotel buildings," the official said.