Secunderabad Fire: 40 E-Scooters, Gas Cylinders, Batteries In Basement

Secunderabad Fire: The probe has also found that about 40 electric scooters, gas cylinders and batteries were stored in the basement of the building.

Secunderabad Fire
Secunderabad Fire

Secunderabad Fire: A short circuit during the charging of an electric scooter may have caused a fire in a building in Secunderabad, claiming eight lives, a preliminary investigation has found. The investigation also revealed that around 40 electric scooters, gas cylinders and batteries were kept in the basement of the building. Click to Know More: 8 Dead In Secunderabad Fire, “Over-Charging” Of E-Scooters A Possible Cause

The fire that broke out at an electric scooter showroom later spread to a hotel in the same building. At least 25 people were present in the hotel at the time of the incident.

Shocking scenes showed some people jumping out of hotel windows to escape the flames. Police said they told some residents to jump, and they were safe.

Officials said all eight people died of suffocation. Several people tried to climb the stairs but were unsuccessful as the stairs were filled with smoke and visibility was reduced to zero.

“The hotel appears to have 23 rooms on all four floors. The smoke used to pass through the stairs from the bottom to the top floor. Some people who were sleeping on the first and second floors entered the corridor through thick smoke and died due to suffocation,” said CV Anand, Commissioner of Police, Hyderabad.

The fire brigade rescued many people with the help of a crane. Local people also joined in the rescue work.

Director General of Telangana Fire Services Sanjay Kumar Jain said the cause of the disaster was mainly smoke and not fire.

The injured have been shifted to hospitals, Mr Anand said. He said that it is being investigated whether the fire in the electric scooter showroom was caused by overcharging of the battery.