Kin pins blame on late arrival of ambulance

Hyderabad: Relatives of the Gulzar Houz fire accident victims squarely blamed the delayed arrival of fire tenders, ambulances and shortage of oxygen masks in ambulances, for the loss of so many lives. They expressed grief that children would have survived had the ambulance arrived on time at the spot.

They expressed outrage and frustration at the Osmania Hospital and they vented their anger towards City Incharge Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Mayor Gadwal Vijayalakshmi and Congress MP Anil Kumar Yadav, upon their arrival. The family members claimed that the delayed arrival of ambulances has cost lives, and the ambulances lacked even oxygen masks. Some relatives also voiced their regret over voting for Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy, holding the government responsible for the emergency response shortcomings. “I lost all the 16 family members. Had the ambulance equipped with masks a few would have survived. What is the use when the Ambulance has a picture of Revanth Reddy to whom I voted, which was not properly equipped to deal with the situation ?” asked Sunil Modi, one of the relatives. Md Pasha, the family’s auto driver also blamed the delay of fire tender’s arrival at the spot. He was alerted by one of the relatives of the victims over the phone during the morning hours. But by the time he reached the spot, the fire had already consumed scores.

“I was asked to rush to the spot by a cousin of one of the victims. However by the time I reached it was too late. The fire tenders appeared on the scene one and half hour after the calls were made by the family,” he recalled.

Several families at the mortuary also voiced serious concerns about the emergency response. While most avoided media interaction and asked not to record them, as the families grieved the loss of their loved ones. They also expressed frustration on journalists who approached them.

Eyewitnesses at Gulzar Houz recounted the harrowing moments, as they were returning from morning prayers. They could not enter the building housing the jewellery shop, through the main gate. “It was engulfed in flames, so we broke the shutter to go inside. Then five to six of us broke through a wall and entered the first floor. But the whole place was completely engulfed in flames,” said Zahid.

Local residents who witnessed it immediately rushed to help the victims. Shaik Zaheer, a businessman as he forced himself into the house witnessed a distressing sight, a body of a woman who died while trying to save her children. “We managed to get inside shortly after the fire started. The flames were huge. Inside the room, a woman had hugged children. She was dead,” said Zaheer.