Bangalore, February 23
In one the worst fire tragedies in the history of Bangalore, nine persons died and over 50 were injured when a multi-storeyed office building here caught fire.
An electrical short circuit had believed to have caused the fire which engulfed the fourth and fifth floors of the multi-storeyed Carlton Towers in the Airport Road area of the city this afternoon.
The dead included three persons who had jumped down from the affected floors after fire spread in the building. Others who died had succumbed to suffocation.
Dr Narendra Swamy, Chief Operating Officer of Manipal Hospital, where the injured had been admitted, confirmed that nine persons, including three women died in the incident.
The toll is likely to go up as 19 of the injured had been admitted in the ICU of the hospital. Forty others had been admitted in the hospital’s general section. Asked about the age profile of the deceased, Swamy said they were “mostly middle-aged”
Local TV channels showed visuals of a woman jumping from the building and getting bounced on the balconies of various floors before crashing on the ground.
“The fire has been brought under control and all those trapped in the building have been evacuated,” PS Sandhu, IG, Fire Department, said.
