A FIRE IN INDIA’S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY HUB OF BANGALORE, raced through a 7-story office building today trapping hundreds.
The fire started around 4:40 pm local time on the fifth floor of the building located in Bangalore’s central business district. The extending fire drove many people to the windows where several of them jumped from to escape the flames. So far, 9 have died and at least 68 have been hospitalized with at least 15 of them in serious condition. All of the injured are suffering from smoke inhalation.
As the fire was growing, thousands of spectators poured out of nearby office buildings and packed the streets, impeding the progress of fire apparatus and hampering the rescue efforts.
The firefighters had the fire knocked down in less than two hours and then did a full search of the building. There was no report of any additional victims being located.
The Hindu newspaper reports:
Rakesh Ramachandran, part of a fire rescue team said the exit doors on every floor were locked. He rushed to Carlton Towers upon receiving a call from his friend who was trapped in the building. The locked doors made it impossible for people to use the stairs that led to the ground floor, he claimed. Along with seven others from his team, he broke the locks on six such exit doors, thereby enabling many people to use the escape hatch. “We were shocked to see that these doors, that are critical exit points at such times, were kept locked. It took us nearly an hour to reach the fourth and fifth floor where many were trapped.”
Read the complete story from The Hindu HERE.
This video from News9 caught some of the early chaos and fatal jumpers:
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