Fan manufacturing unit gutted in fire

Hyderabad: Property worth lakhs of rupees was damaged after fire broke out in Harsha fans manufacturing unit at Balanagar Industrial Area in Gandhinagar on the wee hours of Monday. Major parts of the building were gutted in fire due to huge explosion of gas cylinders. Fortunately, no casualties were reported.

The fire was noticed at around 3 am in one of the manufacturing units. Eyewitnesses said that with no time flames started erupting from the plastic melting unit which soon spread to the adjacent rooms where gas cylinders were stored. Smoke billowing out of the building was seen as far as two kilometers away from the spot. Newly manufactured fans, spare parts and other machinery worth lakhs of rupees was gutted in the mishap.

Flames started spreading to the second floor of the five-storied building, while a portion of the building collapsed and few other places developed cracks. The fire tenders battled the blaze that threatened to spread to the adjacent buildings. Building owner told reporters that the loss could be more than Rs 50 lakhs and alleged that the fire tenders did not reach the spot on time.

A total of seven fire tenders, including four water tankers had to be requisitioned from Secunderabad, Sanathnagar, Kukatpally and Jeedimetla. Fire fighters used water and foam and it was only after an eight-hour-long sustained fighting that the blaze was brought under control.

“Some eight workers were present inside the unit when the mishap occurred but were rescued immediately,” Jeedimetla fire officer A Sridhar Reddy said, adding that 20 workers used to work on a daily basis. There could have been loss of human lives, had the accident taken place during the working hours as there was just one entry point into the building which hampered fire team, said a police official who was involved in the fire-fighting operations.