Hyderabad: 6 charred to death in air cooler unit

Hyderabad: Locked inside a shed they were sleeping in, six migrant workers were charred to death in a major fire that broke out before dawn on Wednesday at Attapur. The workers were from Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand and worked and slept in the shed where Om Avone air coolers are fabricated.

Four fire-fighting tenders and three two-wheelers equipped with fire-fighting equipment were deployed to douse the fire. Langer Houz fire officer said that the “main cause of the fire was an electrical short circuit and lack of ventilation”.

Owner had locked unit, trapping workers inside
The watchman of an under-construction building who witnessed the horrific fire at an AC godown said that the youngsters trapped inside did not have a chance to escape from the fire which gutted the workshop, as they were locked inside. Mr M. Tirupati, the watchman, said that the owner of the factory, Pramod Kumar, used to lock the door from outside fearing thefts.

When he noticed the sparks, Mr Tirupati alerted passers-by who were going home after offering morning prayers at a nearby mosque. Attempts were made to break the lock on the iron door as someone was heard screaming from inside and banging the door.

“We couldn’t open the door so we stopped a tipper driver and got him to drive into the door at 40 kmph in reverse. He was unsuccessful at the first attempt, but moved his tipper back and forth a couple of times and on the third attempt, the door broke down, but the workers could not be rescued by that time,” Mr Tirupati said.

Referring to the unfortunate victims, he added, “Though we did not speak the same language, we connected as we always waved at each other. They could not speak Telugu and I can't speak Hindi and the communication gap was a huge barrier. But we used to nod at each other whenever we made eye contact. The youngsters were very jovial and good-natured. It is really sad that such a tragedy has taken place.”

Mohammed Abdul Rasheed, who was walking home after prayers, joined the rescuers after hearing the pleas of the watchman. “The smoke which was rising from the godown was dense. The victims had no chance to save themselves.”

Migrant workers had come in January
The six migrant workers who died in the fire in Attapur were temporary workers from Palamu district of Jharkhand. They came to Hyderabad in the first week of January to work in the cooler assembling unit. They were made to sleep inside a temporary shed which had no ventilation and had flammable material stocked inside.

Four of the victims worked at the warehouse, and two others worked nearby. They latter two had come to visit their friends and unfortunately stayed back at night. Javed Ansari, a friend of the victims, said that they had been coming to Hyderabad for the last five years in the summer season.

"They worked for this same employer last year in summer.  In January this year, the employer called them again to work for him. They were contracted to work till June," said Javed.

Friends of the victims, who work in similar units in the city's outskirts, said that they were paid a meagre daily wage. "The employer pays Rs 40 for assembling one cooler. A person works for 12 to 14 hours a day and assembles six or more coolers," Javed said. The victims’ families have been informed of the tragedy by the police and the bodies will be sent to Jharkhand on Thursday.