Nine Deaths in Bangalore Fire Shock City
Updates at 11.30pm, IST
Bangalore, Feb 23 (IANS) When the first flashes came on Kannada TV channels of a fire in the seven-storey office and commercial complex in Bangalore central business district, not many viewers thought it would end in nine deaths.
"I thought the channels were making it big because of the visuals they were getting. At first, it appeared that many people in the upper floors of the complex were simply looking out," said K. Vanajakshi, a housewife.
"But I was shocked when they started telecasting visuals caught on mobiles showing some jumping out in panic and others using bare hands to break the glass panels for fresh air," she said.
That was around 5.30 p.m. and she sat glued to the TV for the next three hours, switching channels to catch the latest till the doctors at the Manipal Hospital, to where the dead and the injured were rushed, confirmed nine deaths and 60 injuries.
Similar was the case in hundreds of houses and offices across the state as the dimension of the worst fire tragedy in the state in over a decade started unravelling with more dramatic visuals caught on cells making it to the channels.
K.S. Kashinath, a retired state government official, said since there was no visual of fire belching out of the complex and only smoke, he thought there would not be any deaths.
"I feared, though, that many would suffer from inhaling the smoke as I saw people using their bare hands to break open the glass panel to let the smoke out."
"I have been in the city for over six decades. I cannot recall a fire accident that took so many lives in Bangalore in the last 20 years," he said.
Microblogging site Twitter was flooded with one liners updating the rescue effort and casualty numbers.
Some of those trapped in the building also tweeted, telling they were safe, waiting for fire brigade personnel to be rescued and asking family members and friends not to panic and desist from trying to reach the complex.
City police and fire personnel also did not expect nine people will lose lives as there was more smoke and less fire.
D.G. Chengappa, director of fire services, said this was the worst fire tragedy in over a decade in Karnataka in terms of number of dead.
Police and fire personnel said doors of fire exits in the building were locked adding to the panic of the hundreds trapped in the complex.
Nine Dead, 50 Injured in Bangalore Office Complex Fire
Bangalore, Feb 23 (IANS): Nine people died and around 50 were injured when fire broke out in a high-rise office complex in Bangalore Tuesday. The deaths were caused either by choking in smoke or due to injuries suffered when some tried to jump from the seven-storey building, fire officials said.
"Nine - six men and three women - have died and around 50 are injured. The condition of seven injured is serious," D.G. Chengappa, director of fire services, told IANS.
The fire broke out in the fifth-floor office of an IT firm around 4 p.m., trapping several hundred people in the seven-storey Carlton Towers, an office and commercial complex on the busy old Airport Road in Bangalore's central business district.
Visuals caught on cell phones and telecast on TV channels showed a woman trying to jump to the sixth floor from the seventh, slipping and falling to the ground. Another showed a man jumping to the ground from the top floor.
It is feared they are among the nine dead.
Fire brigade officials said 16 fire tenders battled the fire for about an hour and all were evacuated after about two hours.
Inspector General of Police P.S. Sandhu told reporters at the site that the fire appeared to have started due to electrical short circuiting.
People broke open glass panes with bare hands and any other material they could lay hands on to let out the smoke.
Dozens of office-goers were seen coughing as they were caught in the smoke.
Rescue operations were hindered as hundreds of people gathered on the busy street restricting the free movement of fire brigade vehicles and fire personnel.
Sandhu said the narrow road and the evening hour traffic did cause a delay in fire tenders reaching the site of the blaze.