Hyderabad: After inspecting the Balaji Residency site for around 10 hours, the Clues team of Hyderabad police confirmed that an electric short circuit had triggered the fire resulting in the mishap that killed nine people.
Dr Venkanna, joint director, Clues team, told Deccan Chronicle that they had found the source of fire near an electric meter installed in the stilt area in the apartment. Huge quantities of organic solvents stored in the area for a long time resulted in forming a cloud of solvents and their flash point being very low, they had caught fire immediately and spread all over in less than a minute’s time.
“The thick cloud of organic solvents spread in the area, caught fire and spread all over the stilt and the resulting smoke engulfed the apartment in no time,” he added.
Dr Vekanna said toluene and other organic solvents belonging to the benzene family were found stored in the containers and a team of 10 scientific officers from the Clues Team had scanned the entire premises and collected some samples. “The process might take a couple of days,” he added.
Experts opined that these solvents are commonly used for dissolving and fixing fibre sheets, in paints and also hardening of cement in the construction industry. These days, toluene is also used in petroleum products to boost engine performance of engines in vehicles.
Excess exposure to these solvents could affect brain and nervous systems and can also lead to cancers, they opined. Meanwhile, a team of Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory also inspected the mishap site and collected samples.
