Hotel fire leads to panic

HYDERABAD: Guests at Comfort Hotel in Chirag Ali Lane, Abids had a lucky escape after fire that broke out on the fourth floor of the five-storied building led to heavy smoke filling up all its rooms and corridors on Tuesday afternoon. Preliminary investigations indicated short circuit as the cause of fire that started at around 12 noon. No casualties or injuries were reported.
Initial estimates suggested that property worth Rs 20 lakh was gutted. “It could have turned in to a major tragedy had the guests on this floor been inside during the time of the mishap,” said N Surendra Anand, station fire officer (SHO), Gowliguda. Two fire tenders from this station along with another from Musheerabad were rushed to the spot to control the situation. It took the firemen about an hour to douse the flames that started from the fourth floor corridor of the hotel.
The smoke spread to all rooms even as guests on all the floors rushed out in panic. “As the hotel has a decorative glass façade, there was no outlet for the smoke. Some glass panes on the fourth floor had to be broken to let the smoke out. The guests were alerted in time and rushed out or else they would have been suffocated,” Anand said. In all, the Comfort Hotel has 34 rooms.
According to fire officials, investigations are on to ascertain the actual cause of fire and total loss caused due to the mishap.