The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : Fire in scrap-store; owner `absconding'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 08, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

Fire in scrap-store; owner `absconding'

By Our Staff Reporter

A man looking from a high-rise point at the gutted scrap-store near Miralam tank in Hyderabad on Thursday. Photo: P. V. Sivakumar

HYDERABAD, APRIL 7. Tension gripped areas near the Mir Alam tank after a fire broke out in a scrap dealer's storehouse around noon on Thursday. Adding to the panic was the nauseating smell that spread in the area after chemicals stored in the storehouse caught fire.

There were no casualties and the blaze was brought under control by locals and four fire engines that rushed to the spot. The owner and the workers at the storehouse reportedly fled the spot immediately after the fire broke out and were absconding.

The blaze could have turned into a major mishap had it swelled out of the store, since the surroundings were full of paper and other flammable material. A slum behind the storehouse escaped narrowly since all the huts there had thatched roofs, the police said.

Rumours

Earlier, there were rumours of a poisonous gas spread in the area. Closing their nostrils to avoid the pungent smell that emanated from the viscous black stuff that flowed out from the burning storehouse, people gathered on high-vantage points to get a view of the inferno.

According to police, the owners of the storehouse were Mohd. Ghouse and Mohd. Afroze dealing with sale of empty drums, plastic articles and other scrap items. There were around 50 drums in the storehouse, all of which were burnt along with other material stocked there. However, there is no clarity how highly inflammable chemicals were stored on the premises.

Fire officers M. Srinivasa Rao and Mohan Reddy, who supervised the fire fighting operations, summoned fire tenders from Chandulal Baradari, Langar Houz, Moghulpura and Malakpet. The fire service personnel had to use foam to put out the fire. Even three truckloads of sand which was used to cover the viscous liquid which streamed out of the gutted premises, could not keep the smoke from puffing out, they said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh