Fire at furniture unit kills 10-year-old girl

Hyderabad: A 10-year-old girl, Shiv Priya was killed, and several others were injured when a fire broke out at a furniture manufacturing unit in Jiyaguda on Tuesday night. Locals along with officials rescued as many as 25 people residing in the apartment.

Responding swiftly to the emergency, Kulsumpura police and firefighters arrived with four fire extinguishers. Using ladders, they safely evacuated seven families residing on the upper floors, whereas five people were severely injured and 25 others were rescued. According to the Fire Department, the incident occurred at a four-story building where seven families were trapped when the fire started at around 1 am.

Five members of a single family were critically injured in the fire and were rushed to Osmania General Hospital. Shiv Priya succumbed to her injuries while undergoing treatment and four others, including Lakshmi Bai (70), Srinivas (37), Madhavi (24), and Meghana (18) are undergoing treatment, with three of them in critical condition.

The officer said that the flames erupted on the ground floor of the four-story building under the Kulsumpura police station limits at around 1 am and subsequently spread to the first and second floors. After receiving information, fire tenders rushed to the scene and doused the flames by 3 am.

A senior officer in the fire department said, “A call was received at 1:22 am and the team reached the spot immediately. Several people who were trapped in the building were rescued. The cause of the fire is suspected to be a short circuit. A case has been registered, and an investigation is underway.”

The officer said that the owner of the furniture factory reportedly resides in Nampally and was absent from the scene due to a family emergency.

Kulsumpura police said that the building owner was running a furniture manufacturing unit on the ground floor and the exact cause of the fire is being investigated.