Five persons, including two children and an elderly woman, lost their lives in
the fire that broke out on Saturday at a four-storey furniture shop, Batcha Furniture Shop in Chirag Ali Lane, Nampally.
The bodies, recovered this morning, were identified as those of Akhil (7), Pranith (11), Syed Habib (30), Mohammed Imtiaz (31) and BB Amma (60).
The bodies were later shifted to Osmania General Hospital.
As of now, around 90% of the rescue operations have been completed. Over 200 personnel were involved in the efforts, and many have been working continuously for more than 22 hours. Firefighters reportedly faced severe challenges while reaching those trapped, entering the basement with oxygen cylinders and accompanied by medical teams.
Telangana Director General of Fire, Disaster Response, Emergency and Civil Defence Vikram Singh Mann told the media that the building's two basements contained furniture, raw materials, chemicals, plastics, mattresses and foam, and the exit was blocked by a locked iron shutter. The incident occurred due to a blatant violation of fire safety norms, he said.
Expressing deep sorrow over the tragedy, Transport and Hyderabad district in-charge minister Ponnam Prabhakar said that the government would extend support to the families of the deceased. He directed the police to initiate criminal proceedings against the shop owner for failing to comply with fire safety norms.
Revenue, Housing and Information & Public Relations Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy announced an ex-gratia payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the family of each of the victims, and instructed Hyderabad Collector Hari Chandana to ensure the prompt disbursement of the ex-gratia amount.
He also directed officials to strictly enforce fire safety regulations and security standards to prevent such incidents in the future.
Reddy said that preliminary investigations revealed that the fire occurred due to the shop owner's negligence, and that the accused had been arrested. The minister added that strict legal action would be taken against those responsible.