Hyderabad, April 19: Two fire mishaps within a gap of five minutes in the heart of city –one in the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) of India office at Abids and the other at a printing press in a residential complex at Somajiguda — reduced property worth lakhs into ashes.
However, there were no casualties.
The fire in the LIC office in Chirag Ali Lane destroyed several office documents and data stored in computers.
Fire broke out in the LIC’s database unit on the third floor of the building around 1.30 p.m. Three to four employees present in the building initially noticed smoke emanating from the floor. Before they could react, the furniture and computers caught fire. After some effort to put out the flames, they had to rush out of the building.
Three fire tenders, each from Gowliguda, Malakpet and Secunderabad, rushed to the spot. However, even after breaking the window panes of the building the personnel could not get proper access to extinguish the fire.
They had to climb the adjacent building to pump water into the office. It took two hours for them to put out the flames.
The office had all the official data and documents related to the LIC transactions, officials said. Police and fire officials suspect that a short-circuit might have triggered the fire.
Another fire mishap was reported at 1.25 p.m from the cellar of a residential apartment near Hotel Katriya in Somajiguda.
Fire broke out in the cellar where scrap paper was stored by a printing press running in the complex.
With fire spreading fast and thick smoke emanating, fire services personnel evacuated all the occupants in the G+3 building to safety.
Fire tenders from Secunderabad and Musheerabad rushed to the spot and extinguished the flames.
–Agencies