Hyderabad: 6 workers killed as air cooler unit catches fire, owner held

Hyderabad: A massive fire broke out in a warehouse at Attapur in Rajendranagar of Hyderabad, killing six migrant workers early morning on Wednesday.

Fire officials said that the six victims were sleeping inside the warehouse and could not escape as the fire spread. A gas cylinder kept in their room blasted off causing the fire to spread quickly.

Fire officials said that the warehouse is used for storing air coolers and manufacturing materials. The building is covered in asbestos sheets making it more vulnerable to fire.

While the police and fire officials are yet to confirm this, it is suspected that a short circuit in the building caused the fire.

According to locals, few passers by in the early hours noticed fire and smoke coming out of the warehouse. They alerted the emergency services and fire officials.

“Three fire tenders arrived at the spot to extinguish the blaze. By the time the fire engines reached there, the major part of the warehouse was already gutted,” said a police official from Rajendranagar.

Eyewitnesses said that rescue operators could only pull out the charred bodies, as all the inmates were already dead inside the burning building. “All of them were sleeping inside. As the fire started, they might not have been able to open the locked door. The rescue operators had to break in to get the bodies out,” said official from Rajendranagar police station.

The victims were identified as migrant workers from Odisha, Bihar and Chhattisgarh, who had been working as labourers in the unit.

Police found that no fire safety mechanism was in place in the go-down.

Rajendranagar police have arrested the owner, a man named Pramod Kumar.