7 Feared Trapped in Massive Nampally Shop Fire

Officials said the operation to clear the debris and move in could take several hours due to hazardous conditions inside the building.

Hyderabad police commissioner V.C. Sajjanar said the fire broke out around 1 pm and that fire services, DRF teams and police rushed to the spot immediately. The furniture shop owners have been identified as Baccha Harish, Baccha Satish, Baccha Rajesh and Baccha Praveen.

Fire services Director General Vikram Singh Mann said the fire-hit building had a ground and four floors with two cellars, the first of which was densely packed with furniture materials. He reiterated that cellars are not permitted for commercial use in Hyderabad and said a short circuit was suspected to be the cause.

Police late in the evening identified those trapped inside as Mohammed Imtiyaz, 27, working at store for nearly a decade, Syed Habeeb, 28, auto trolley driver; watchman Yadaiah, his two children 11-year-old Akhil and seven-year-old Praneet, as well as a woman identified as Beban Bee.

Yadaiah’s wife Lakshmi said the family had been residing in the cellar for long. She was away at work elsewhere and returned to the site upon hearing of the fire.

Lal Khan, a native of Kalburagi district of Karnataka and watchman at the building, said he had been working at the outlet for three years. He said the building housed 12 furniture shops. He said his father Hussain Khan and mother Beban Bee were in the basement and trapped.

Mohammed Moiz, who works at a furniture shop opposite the building, said he noticed mild white smoke emanating from the rear portion of the structure. “Smoke was coming from the first and second basement levels,” he said. Along with his colleague Mohammed Sadiq and other shop workers, they rushed in to help.

By around 1.25 pm, both basement floors were engulfed in flames. The Abids police and fire brigade were alerted, and emergency teams reached the spot by 1.42 pm. Thick black smoke was seen billowing from the rear side of the basement godown, where foam, adhesives, varnish drums and cardboard material were stored, Moiz said.
Moiz recalled that driver Habeeb who had unloaded material from the second basement, told him that several people were trapped inside. “He said he was going down to rescue them but never returned,” he added.
Habeeb’s father, Mohammed Waheed, a resident of Sastripuram, learnt about the incident through a TV channel. “I tried calling my son but his phone was unreachable. When I rushed to the spot, firefighters told me some workers and a watchman were trapped. They asked me to wait and assured me they were trying to rescue them, but by then it was too late,” he said.
More than 200 firefighters, supported by Bronto skylifters, MPT fire tenders and water bowsers, were pressed into service. By 2.45 pm, the fire department deployed explosion-proof firefighting robots, normally used in the oil and gas sector, to operate in the hazardous basements.

The remotely operated machines were equipped with fire-resistant cameras, water cannons, smoke exhausters and gas sensors to minimise risk to personnel.
Sajjanar and senior officials who visited the scene directed Nampally and Abids police to divert traffic away from the area and urged visitors to postpone their visits to the nearby Numaish to ensure that the roads were free to allow easy movement of emergency vehicles.
Fire fighters faced severe difficulty accessing the basements due to narrow approach lanes and a common entry-exit point. Over 200 metres of water hoses were laid from both the front and rear sides to tackle the uncontrollable blaze and attempt rescue operations.
“Because the building is hemmed in by narrow lanes on either side, gaining access to the basements took nearly four hours. Teams using Bronto skylift s had to break glass panes to ventilate the building and allow carbon monoxide to escape,” firefighters M. Niranjan and P. Srinivas said.
Thick smoke persisted in the cellars when reports last came in. Two robots deployed to assess the situation inside the cellar were withdrawn due to zero visibility. Authorities are pumping large quantities of water and using foam to reduce smoke levels, but access remains difficult.
Officials said the building was constructed in 1960 in the name of the Hindi Prachar Sabha, with land reportedly donated by Achyut Reddy. Over the years, it allegedly fell into the hands of illegal occupants.
Despite earlier High Court orders directing that the shops be vacated, commercial activities reportedly continued. Authorities noted that while the building initially had proper setbacks, furniture shops were set up without maintaining them, turning the structure into a high-risk zone.
Over 1,800 furniture and surgical shops fall on the entire 400 meters stretch on either sides of the road on road connecting from collector office cross roads till Nampally Metro Rail station.
Officials urged the closure of over 130 various shops surrounding the fire-hit building.
The Telangana State Human Rights Commission (SHRC) took serious note of the incident following a complaint by human rights lawyer Rama Rao Immaneni. Calling it a case of administrative negligence, the SHRC registered a case and alleged that illegal constructions and lapses by authorities, including the GHMC, were among the root causes of the tragedy, T Venkanna and other officials visited the crime scene.
Abids station house officer K. Parsuram said a case had been registered and a special team formed to investigate along with the fire department.