Major fire breaks out in jubilee hills showroom

Hyderabad: A major fire broke out at Mangala Gowri Shopping Mall on Road No 36 in Jubilee Hills on Thursday. No casualties or injuries have been reported in the incident.

Four fire tenders, including Jubilee Hills and Panjagutta, along with the Disaster Response Force and local police coordinated and doused the fire in one and a half hours. No customers were present in the mall at the time of the accident, however, four persons said to be staff, who were trapped in the building were rescued by fire department personnel.

According to officials, the fire occurred while some workers were using gas cutters to take down the facade/decorations on the outside of the mall. Sparks from the welding material triggered the fire, said an official from the Panjagutta Fire Station. Some furniture on the fourth floor and the mall’s facade were damaged, incurring a loss of about Rs 10-15 lakh.

Following the fire, the flames and smoke engulfed the building and the trapped women raised an alarm for help. Raju, working in the building, rushed and assisted them.

Raju said, “We assumed that we would die. Thick black smoke covered everything and we didn’t know which way to go. Some workers jumped onto the adjacent building. The rest of us broke the glass door and somehow managed to escape,” he said.

On receiving the information, Jubilee Hills MLA Naveen Yadav visited the spot, said no casualties were reported in the incident. Around 10 people were working inside, but they came out of the building when the fire broke out.

Heavy traffic jams were reported in the area following the fire incident and traffic diversions were imposed on the stretch to facilitate the firefighting operations.