Multi-disciplinary team to submit report on Hyderabad fire: Minister

The Telangana government has asked five departments, including fire and police, to go into the devastating fire in a building that left 17 people dead and submit a report, state Transport Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said on Monday.

The officials of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), fire, police, revenue department and the Hyderabad Disaster Response and Asset Protection Agency (HYDRAA) would jointly probe the tragedy and submit a report to the government, Prabhakar, in-charge minister for Hyderabad, told PTI.

The officials are expected to visit the building near the Charminar on Monday and have already submitted a preliminary report on the incident. 

As part of measures to prevent such fire mishaps in future, the government would involve local public representatives to impress upon residents of old buildings to install fire safety measures in the interest of their safety, Prabhakar added.

There are many century-old buildings, including the one that caught fire, at Gulzar Houz and the surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, a team from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is scheduled to visit the scene for investigation, a senior police official told PTI.

The official further said a fire accident case was registered in connection with the incident.

Further investigation would proceed as per its findings, he added.

A blaze triggered by a suspected short circuit in a building near the iconic Charminar here on Sunday killed 17 people, including eight children, belonging to an extended family of a jeweller.

The fire broke out at a building in Gulzar Houz here, police said.

"All 17 who were shifted to hospitals were dead," a senior police official told PTI. 

A narrow staircase was the only escape route for the inmates of the building, but they could not rush out, a Fire Department official said.

The building housed jewellery shops on the ground floor, and people were residing in a flat above, police said, adding that smoke spread and people suffocated.

There were a total of 21 people in the building when the incident occurred, and out of them, 17 who were shifted to different hospitals in an unconscious condition by the fire department they could not survive, while four of them on the upper floors were rescued.

Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has ordered an inquiry into the fire accident.

AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi said on Sunday that the family has been residing there for 125 years, indicating that generations from the particular family have been living there for over a century.

The family is said to be running a jewellery shop in the city.